Air Malta engineers are questioning the future direction of the company following the recent an-nouncement on fleet downsizing.
The Association of Airline Engineers joined the Union of the Cabin Crew and the Airline Pilots Association’s in criticising the decision to use eight planes in summer and seven in winter instead of the present 10.
AAE president John Camilleri told the Times of Malta that though the company could, technically, improve aircraft utilisation, this would come at a cost and be very difficult to implement.
“We can definitely increase aircraft utilisation. However, this will mean more maintenance and, in case of a technical fault, which is common, schedule disruptions will be much bigger than they are now,” he said.
Mr Camilleri communicated his union’s preoccupation about what it felt were the more pressing issues affecting the company.
“We feel the company has no direction or, if it has, we are being kept in total darkness. The unions are in despair because no one knows what is going on,” he said.
Referring to the changes made at the company’s top management following the change in government in 2013, Mr Camilleri said that the engineers felt there were no clear plans on the road ahead.
It’s like we were flying through a heavy storm and, midway,the company changed the flight captain
“It’s like we were flying through a heavy storm and, midway, the company changed the flight captain,” Mr Camilleri said.
He noted that at the time of former CEO Peter Davies, all the unions sat on a steering committee that discussed the restructuring programme and the decisions taken by the company to reach its five-year targets.
Mr Camilleri said that “unfortunately, [the steering committee] is not functioning any longer”. “Since the change in administration, the committee did not meet any more. We need to work together to save the airline and being kept in the dark is not helping,” he lamented.
Referring to a recent article in the Times of Malta which said that, compared to other similar airlines, Air Malta’s employee-to-aircraft ratio was far too high, Mr Camilleri said the national carrier could not be compared to other airlines. He said that companies like Ryanair and Easyjet outsourced much of their engineering work, while Air Malta still used its in-house engineers to do most of the day-to-day maintenance.
Air Malta is insisting that though it would be reducing its fleet, it would still carry the same number of passengers and fly the same routes as it is doing now.
The aim behind the fleet reduction is for the company to cut leasing costs by about €8 million a year. According to the restructuring plan agreed upon with the European Commission, Air Malta has to return to profit by the end of next March.
The company ended its financial year in March 2015 with a loss of €17 million.