The Nationalist Party will continue to insist that local investors should be allowed to tap into Air Malta’s potential, PN leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

Discussing the way forward with constituted bodies, Dr Busuttil said that following the government’s failure to conclude a deal with Alitalia for the latter to buy a stake in the national airline, the PN would continue to appeal to the government to accept its proposal and allow local investment.

The PN wanted Air Malta to continue to serve the Maltese tourism industry as Malta needed to have its own national airline.

Criticising the current administration for “wasting four years” to restructure Air Malta and put it back on its feet, he said more time was wasted on talks with Alitalia when “negotiations were doomed from day one”.

He said it was evident even from declarations made by Alitalia’s chairman many months ago that the negotiations with Alitalia were not in Air Malta’s interests. However, despite the opposition’s warnings, the government insisted on continuing with negotiations and ended up without a deal.

Dr Busuttil also criticised the lack of information on what is going on and sympathised with unions that were being left in complete darkness and with employees worrying about their future.

The PN leader said the party was open to more ideas from constituted bodies to make sure that while Air Malta's future was safeguarded, local investors, and possibly the public, would be given the opportunity to invest in the national airline.