Rather than burdening taxpayers and the flying public any further, it is time for new bold innovative solutions for Air Malta to be considered and implemented before it is too late, Philip Micallef, a former Chief Executive Officer, said.

“Is it asking too much for the Government, the Opposition, unions and aviation experts to sit down round a table and trash out a non-partisan sustainable way forward for the airline instead of just discussing salaries and conditions,” he told whoswho.mt.

In view of the precarious situation resulting from the strict travel restrictions demanded by the COVID-19 outbreak, Air Malta announced last week it had grounded most of its fleet and would cut costs, including its payroll. It said it was only operating two flights a day, in contrast with an average 20 scheduled flights daily until a few weeks ago.

Air Malta, like many other airlines, is definitely a virus-hobbled airline, Mr Micallef remarked, admitting he was rather surprised that the Government is using the Covid-19 virus as a pretext to ‘right size’ the airline when other air companies in Europe and the USA are relying on Government assistance to safeguard jobs. In the USA, for example, the Government allocated a $25 billion dollar bailout package and 10 carriers will gain access to these funds in the form of a mixture of loans and grants. In Italy, the Government bailed out Alitalia, he pointed out.

“The Government, yes, should have right sized Air Malta much before and, unfortunately, it tries to balance the interests of the company and its own electoral prospects. Such compromises never work, in my opinion.

“It never decided to downsize in earnest because there was no real excuse to shift the reason of the downsizing to some reason. Now, Covid-19 seems to have provided the right excuse for downsizing, which every man in the street will probably relate to,” Mr Micallef, who served as the airline’s CEO between 2014 and 2016, said.

He recalled that many formulas were attempted in the past, but none were successfully completed. Air Malta, at times, tried to be all things to various stakeholders: hoteliers, tourists, businessmen, medical patients, cargo for dangerous goods like radiography and chemotherapy etc., he remarked, adding that Malta’s catchment area is what it is: 500,000 residents plus two million annual visitors.

“Air Malta has some highly qualified professionals, ranging from engineers to pilots, to cabin crew, to highly dedicated back office support people. It must be careful not to lose the people it deems to be important for the business as dismantling is very easy as opposed to rebuilding.

Mr Micallef expresses the opinion that what Air Malta needs is a partner on an equal footing and with a common objective. He mentions a model similar to SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines that operates scheduled and chartered flights to 90 destinations in Europe and North Africa concentrating on international tourism.

Malta Air was formed with Ryanair but was kept as a separate entity from Air Malta, he notes, admitting he is not too convinced that joint ventures with a very strong partner will be a win-win situation for both. “Hopefully, I am proved wrong.”

In his opinion, decisions on Air Malta cannot be postponed so the national air carrier would be in a position to rebound and make a V shaped recovery when matters get back to normal. “I admit that, at the moment, it is in survival mode as its revenues are on a fast downhill trend (on the left slope of the V) yet, this is the reason why Government intervention should not only keep it afloat but make preparations to face a post Covid-19 era.,” he is quick to add.

Such a turnaround, Mr Micallef continued, cannot happen in a top down manner but needs “honest, transparent and frank talks with all stakeholders including the Air Malta staff”. He draws on his own experience in various CEO roles in Malta and abroad that taught him to listen to all workers and solicit their ideas. One would be surprised at the richness and quality of the ideas that emerge, he said.

The problem with many national airlines has been Government intervention in the running of the airline, at times down to micromanagement, he asserted. National airlines proved to be ideal platforms for patronage, just as many other state companies are/were, he said.