Air Malta said this evening that Ray Hart, who was recently appointed Chief Restructuring Officer and Neale Anderson, Chief Officer for Human Resources, are not its employees but are working with the airline on an interim basis during the restructuring process.

In what appeared to be a reaction to a statement issued earlier in the day by the Labour Party, the airline said the appointments had to be  seen in the context that the airline is currently in.

It said it is currently strengthening its senior management team to be sufficiently positioned to focus on its own restructuring.

The size of the task to restructure was extremely challenging and it needed senior experienced personnel to spearhead the restructuring process, Air Malta said.

"Following the appointment of Peter Davies as Chief Executive Officer in mid April, the airline decided to engage Catalise, an international company with significant experience in restructuring with whom Mr Davies has already worked successfully in the restructuring of Brussels Airlines and Caribbean Airlines.

"As part of this assignment, Ray Hart and Neale Anderson - who are both directors of Catalise - have been brought over as Chief Restructuring Officer and as Chief Officer for Human Resources respectively. Neither Mr Hart nor Mr Anderson are employees of the airline but are working with the airline on an interim basis during this sensitive period and bring much needed experience to the task at hand," Air Malta said.

It added that it intended to recruit full time local personnel to fill both posts.

"It is public knowledge that Mr Davies has worked closely with Catalise before on successful restructuring projects and this should be considered as a positive attribute. It is not unusual that successful teams reunite."

Air Malta stressed that the job in hand was to restructure and save the company, and that Mr Davies would be working through the newly appointed Board of Directors to take whatever measures were necessary to implement a change programme with the right people.

The airline insisted that unnecessary speculation can harm the current restructuring process.

See Labour Party statement at:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110607/local/pl-demands-explanations-on-air-malta-restructuring-contract.369417