You have to hand it to the Tourism Minister. Unlike his many detractors (nasty negative people who are consumed with envy) and his predecessors (negative people who reduced flights, laid off staff and introduced the bread roll and other cost-cutting measures at Air Malta), the minister is laid back and radiates an aura of positivity.

He very casually shrugged off flight delays and cancellations saying they were “few and temporary” and “things that happen”.

I have no doubt the hundreds of travellers, including myself, my husband and children who lost one whole day out of a four-day holiday that we had been planning and saving for three months, would disagree, to put it very mildly. He blamed the few and temporary things that happen on the fact that the fleet is old and requires long periods of maintenance and stated that, in 2019, Air Malta would replace the fleet.

Apart from the fact that Air Malta was virtually bankrupt up to a few months ago, had this statement come from anybody but the minister, red flags would come up and the social media would be abuzz with comments like “populating his assets” and “17 Black”. But looking back on his track record and the agreements he negotiated and signed on our behalf over the past eventful five years, one would realise that such negative comments would be old stories, rehashed.