With the Alitalia-Air Malta talks seemingly in deadlock, the government is not ruling out looking elsewhere for a strategic partner, saying “it did not want to place all our eggs in one basket”.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis confirmed this yesterday when the Times of Malta asked about the Alitalia talks, which were supposed to have been wrapped up by last August. Despite reports that negotiations had broken down, Dr Zammit Lewis yesterday insisted they were not dead.
Amid mounting pressure to reach a deal before it was too late, he said the government wanted to take its time before taking such an important decision. “The decision on a strategic partner can only be taken once and so we must not act with haste. I am trying to strike a balance between taking decisions in time and ensuring that the issue is handled in the right way,” the minister said.
Apart from setting the August deadline for the completion of the talks, the memorandum of understanding signed last April with Alitalia had also precluded the government from simultaneously holding negotiations with other potential investors.
However, when asked if the government was concurrently holding talks with other potential strategic partners, Dr Zammit Lewis yesterday did not it rule out.
“We are a wise government and do not put all our eggs in one basket,” he said. Pressed for further details, the minister would only say the government was willing to seize any “good opportunity” which may come up, in line with its obligations to the company and the tourism industry.
Meanwhile, no date has yet been set for Air Malta’s annual general meeting, even though this is normally held in October. Last month, this newspaper reported the postponement was due to the pending decision on the Alitalia offer to acquire a 49 per cent stake in the Maltese carrier.
Asked if a date had been set for the AGM, Dr Zammit Lewis declined to commit himself insisting it would be held in “the coming months” in line with certain deadlines which he did not specify. “The AGM is a very important event, especially for this company which attracts a lot of interest and has huge challenges ahead of it. We will be divulging important information and explaining the figures,” he said.
Dr Zammit Lewis also confirmed that the government had reopened technical discussions with the European Commission in a bid to explore ways of injecting further capital into the ailing airline. However, the outcome of these talks is not known.
According to strict EU rules, Air Malta cannot receive any further State aid in line with a five-year restructuring plan which was supposed to make the carrier profitable by March of this year.