A technical fault that yesterday grounded one of Air Malta’s 10 aircraft for a few hours – causing delays for hundreds of passengers – has raised concerns over how it will cope when it reduces its fleet by three planes.
The fault disrupted five other flights and some delays stretched to over 12 hours.
As Air Malta scheduling officers struggled to amend the airline’s schedule to work with one less aircraft, staff members told this newspaper that the incident highlighted the problems connected to the recent fleet reduction decision.
“We have already sounded the alarm bells over such a situation which is very common in our industry. Can you imagine what will happen with just seven aircraft and the same number of flights?” said a pilot who did not wish to be named.
“I hope that we won’t end up in a worse position through this latest management decision to reduce the fleet,” a cabin crew member said.
“We could end up in a situation where the company would have to fork out thousands of euro in compensation if something like this happens with a fleet of seven planes,” he added.
A number of online comment-ators also expressed concern over what could be expected if technical faults develop once Air Malta starts operating with just seven planes.
In a blog post, Alternattiva Demokratika deputy chairman Carmel Cacopardo also commented on this latest mishap.
We have already sounded the alarm bells
Writing that Air Malta “is managed by amateurs”, he said that many, including staff members, were very worried about the airline’s future.
Just a few days ago, the Association of Airline Engineers warned Air Malta that there would be a price to pay for fleet reduction.
While agreeing that the airline’s aircraft could be utilised more, association president John Camilleri cautioned that this may mean more trouble in the case of a similar fault.
Air Malta’s fleet of Airbuses are ageing, with some of them already more than 10 years old.
Experts in the field told the Times of Malta that technical faults in commercial planes increase exponentially when aircraft pass their 10-year mark.
“This is why planes are normally leased for just 10 years and then companies try to replace them with new planes,” an aircraft engineer said.
A few weeks ago, Air Malta confirmed news revealed by this newspaper that it will reduce its aircraft from the current 10 to just seven planes in winter and eight in summer.
The airline said this was another cost-cutting exercise but promised that the company would still carry the same number of passengers and fly the same schedule with fewer planes.
Asked yesterday if the company had done studies on how it would manage a technical fault with a smaller fleet, it said most delays were weather related and it did not expect an increase. It would also have contingency plans in place such as rerouting of passengers and “trip leasing” aircraft.
This policy, it added, was very much in line with best practice behaviour.
“Air Malta has constantly achieved top rankings in flight regularity reports amongst members of the Association of European Airlines (AEA). This statistic measures the percentage of planned flights that are actually operated. Air Malta intends to continue achieving such results...” the airline said.