A total of 231 former Air Malta employees are now working in the public sector, following its closure in March 2024.

Figures were tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana after a Parliamentary Question (PQ) was posed by Opposition MP Mario De Marco.

Last week, MP De Marco also asked the Minister to provide the number of KM Malta Airlines (KMMA) employees working on a full-time and part-time basis, as well as how many of them previously worked at Air Malta.

In total, KMMA employs 385 employees, 375 of whom are employed on a full-time basis and 14 are part-timers. Out of these, 80 per cent are former Air Malta employees.

Air Malta ceased operations this year with KMMA, Malta’s new national carrier, taking its place.

The news of Air Malta’s closure came in October 2023 after years of financial trouble, rendering the airline unsustainable and unprofitable.

Prior to that, in 2022, in its last bid to stop haemorrhaging money, the Government had announced a restructuring plan, halving its employees from 900 to 420. The voluntary transfer scheme was offered to cabin crew and administration staff to be given alternative employment, while others were given the option of voluntary redundancy scheme.

Since then, at least 351 former Air Malta employees took the early retirement schme offer, which precludes them from working with the public sector for a period of six years. 

At the time, The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, had recommended that employees first be considered for secondment to the private sector. 

This was suggested with the aim of tackling the constant pressures of shortages in human resources within the private sector and to avoid excess employment to other state entities.