Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi called for “flexibility” from Air Malta employees, as a free vote on the cabin crew collective agreement is set to take place today.

Only the engineers’ union has signed their collective agreement, which will see a salary increase of just 19 per cent over five years.

The cabin crew is expected to renounce direct involvement in the management and services of the company.

The agreement will also see one member of the crew being cut off from every flight, bringing down the number of cabin crew from five to four. Dr Mizzi said that the crew was aware that the agreement “would bring about certain lifestyle changes.”

The latest published audit report for the airline dates back to the year ending March 2015.

The collective agreements must all be completed by end of year, “so that the company can operate with the flexibility it needs to in the coming year,” he insisted.

Collective agreements with the GWU are been closed off this week while talks with pilots will continue in the coming weeks, the minister said.

Presenting the regular Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association Hotel Survey by Deloitte, MHRA president Tony Zahra urged the cabin crew to sign the agreement.

“A vote against the collective agreement is a vote against your job,” Mr Zahra warned.

Over 770,000 tourists came to Malta from July to September, an increase of 12.6 per cent, the MHRA survey found.

2017 is set to achieve new record numbers of tourist arrivals, with tourist expenditure having already reached over €1.5 billion, it estimated