A court has turned down a motion filed by Air Malta’s pilot’s union (ALPA) which temporarily blocked the sacking of 69 pilots by the national carrier.

The warrant of prohibitory injunction was filed ALPA immediately after talks with Air Malta broke down on 5th June, and the latter announced it would be making 69 pilots redundant and demoting several others.

In presiding justice Toni Abela’s decision, the court turned down the request to block the redundancies but upheld ALPA’s arguments regarding the demotions, TVM reported. 

ALPA had objected to Air Malta’s decision to alter conditions of employment and cut wages while the airline’s operations had ground to a halt due to the pandemic.

While agreement has now been reached with the union of engineers and the cabin crew union, talks with the pilots union – despite multiple extensions – reached a stalemate.

Taking to Facebook on Saturday morning, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri announced the court had ruled in Air Malta’s favour on the decision to reduce the number of pilots in the light of “a lack of cooperation by the pilot’s union, ALPA”.

“This could have been avoided had common sense prevailed. I again plead with pilots not to be stubborn and, this Tuesday, vote in favour of the proposals before them so that Air Malta emerges from this storm and the jobs of all employees are safeguarded,” he wrote.