All of Air Malta’s early morning flight departures were delayed today as an industrial dispute between the airline and cabin crew persists.

Fights to Paris, Rome and Amsterdam were delayed by about half an hour. A flight to Vienna was delayed by at least 90 minutes and passengers were not granted the courtesy of a public service announcement until after the scheduled departure time. The long delay was later blamed on the weather. 

The flight to Heathrow was also delayed.

Cabin crew late on Saturday started go-slow industrial action because of a dispute with the airline’s management on working conditions.

The crew have concerns over the collective agreement, rostering and a veiled threat by Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi to shut down the airline.

The management wants staff to be more flexible so that it can add another aircraft to the fleet and extend the route network, without adding more workers.