Jobs will not be lost at Air Malta despite a setback in the restructuring plan agreed with Brussels, according to Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis.

Acknowledging the airline faced renewed financial difficulties, he said the government was committed to saving Air Malta.

“Cost cutting will not include job losses or voluntary retirement schemes that depleted the airline of some of its good people in the past,” Dr Zammit Lewis said yesterday on One TV.

Air Malta underwent major surgery three years ago that saw its workforce cut by half, its fleet of airplanes reduced and subsidiary companies sold off.

But the airline will be forced to review its cost structure again after Air Malta chairwoman Maria Micallef told The Sunday Times of Malta the company was expecting a loss of €16 million in March next year instead of reaching breakeven stage as envisaged by the plan.

Air Malta should be turning a profit by March 2016, the last year of the plan, which puts the onus on the new management to act fast.

More on Times of Malta.

PM - PRIORITY IS RESTRUCTURING PLAN AGREED WITH THE EU

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in comments this morning reiterated that the priority for Air Malta was to carry out the restructuring plan agreed with the European Union.

He said any agreement for a tie-up with a strategic partner for the airline had to be such that the government retained control over the company.