The Nationalist Party has called on the government to clearly outline its plans for Air Malta and to state whether it was considering selling any part of the airline.
The government has no mandate to make a sale of this sort, PN tourism spokesman Robert Arrigo told a press conference yesterday.
He said Air Malta’s €16 million loss this year proved the Nationalists were right in claiming the restructuring plan was not on track.
“The government always said the restructuring plan was on track when replying to questions in Parliament,” Mr Arrigo said.
The national airline must return a profit by 2016 according to a five-year restructuring plan agreed with the European Commission in May 2011 – when a one-time €130 million government subsidy was approved.
This year the airline was meant to register a profit but instead registered a €16 million loss and predicted it would lose a similar sum next year.
If we keep employing people where they are not needed... the airline will never get back on track
This emerged from Tuesday’s financial results, when Air Malta chairwoman Maria Micallef called on politicians to “hold back” and allow the management to work since they only had 17 months to get things right.
Yesterday Mr Arrigo said the PN was not interfering politically with the airline but it seemed the government was.
The financial report showed that the results were only on track in 2012, when the PN was in power.
The Labour government, he said, was blaming its poor results on competition and the situation in Libya. But competition always existed and the PN government also faced a Libya crisis, he said.
“If we keep employing people where they are not needed and not having enough sales the airline will never get back on track,” he said, adding that the government had employed 300 more people and promoted 17 flight attendants, which cost the airline an extra €20,000 per month.
PN economy spokeswoman Kristy Debono said ensuring Air Malta’s sustainability was crucial to the success of the tourism sector, which contributed to a quarter of the economy.
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said he was concerned about the Air Malta situation when he met representatives of the Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents at the PN headquarters.
In a statement, Labour accused the PN of hypocrisy saying that, when in government, it allowed Air Malta’s financial situation to deteriorate.
‘No government interference’
Air Malta’s chairwoman Maria Micallef yesterday clarified that her comments during Tuesday’s annual general meeting “did not infer that there is government interference”.
During the AGM she said politicians should hold back if the airline was to survive.
The comments were intended to ensure the national airline had everyone’s support – government and Opposition – to allow the board and management to focus on bringing the airline back to viability, rather than politicising the situation, she said in a joint statement with CEO Philip Micallef.