Well done for PN who tackled Dry Docks, Sea Malta and now Air Malta. Justice is being made. Our money should continue to be administered by the Government for the common good such as health, education, road infrastructure and recreational parks for all and not to reward the inefficent. That is, if we are not aiming to follow Greece’s footsteps.

I have nothing personal about Mr. Louis Grech, but your statement that under Mr. Grech Airmalta was profitable is simply not correct. The audited financial statements of the group from 1999 to 2003 show annual losses from 2001 to 2003.
And there were significant annual losses in the associated companies of the group at least since 1998.
No credit can be given to any claim that the losses came from AzurraAir or RJs – those investments were made pre-1996. Malta changed government in 1996. Therefore, it was Mr. Grech’s and his board’s responsibility to divest or administer those investments in the best interest of the shareholders.
The truth is set out in this statement made by the new Chairman, Mr. Lawrence Zammit, in his Chairman’s Message on the results of 2003:

“Our financial results for the period have been affected by the conscious decision the newly appointed board of directors took to start the process of exiting the group’s investment in AZZURRAair. A write-off of no less than Lm14.1million (Euro33 million) has been made to recognise the high operating losses suffered by this company in the year under review, together with any other residual costs which Air Malta may incur in respect of this investment.
In addition, a provision on onerous contracts of Lm7 million (Euro16.4 million) has been made to reflect the shortfall in income and the additional costs which are expected to arise on the Avro RJ aircraft previously sub-leased to AZZURRAair.”

Tim, the whole of Malta is “the south”. We’ve got PL in our blood, damn it.

Yes, democracy has failed us. We got the worst of the worst, because governments are elected by the people, and what do the people love? Chavs, coatti, hamalli, oafs, subliterates, Catholic fundamentalists, xenophobes and small-minded islanders.

As for anarchy, unless you have The People on your side, it’ll be over before it even starts. I don’t intend to be the Maltese Robert-François Damiens and have the whole goddamn establishment tut-tutting condescendingly while I’m in my death throes.

That is precisely my point, Tim. Let’s try a little Gedankenexperiment. Airmalta disappears, and the Vienna-Malta route is no longer serviced. But you and hundreds of other passangers want a Vienna-Malta flight. Some airline sees the market demand, and steps in to provide the service. So we have a direct flight after all. Malta is a niche desination, and Airmalta practically holds the monopoly. That is why other airlines aren’t stepping in. The moment Airmalta disappears, they’ll be filling the gap in the market. At lower prices.

@ Baxxter (27 June 2222hrs).
I agree with you in principle but I’m afraid I have to take a narrowly partisan view here.

I live in Vienna and fly to Malta about 5 times a year. KM is the only airline flying direct, and usually the cheapest too, so if Km fold I am seriously worried that I’ll have to go via Frankfurt or Munich, taking an extra 2-4 hours and paying an additional €100 – 200 each time. Not an amusing prospect. And there are many cases like mine, I’m sure.

If anyone at Ryanair is reading this, perhaps he/she would consider operating to/from Vienna or Bratislava and Malta. I’m pretty certain that the route would be profitable. I tried to find your e-mail address on your website, but it seems that you only encourage people to contact you to book a flight or to complain. Suggestions don’t seem to be welcome.

The Hotel Phoenicia saga all over again !

Er, when I was was made redundant, my family was at stake, and it led to untold hardships. Fuck ’em, I say.

The diehards will go because they will find it hard to work and find their handout attractive. By Malta Drydocks standards one would get Euro 55,000 for being an Air Malta employee since the seventies.

Daphne you are so lame……. it is acceptable for women, not acceptable for men – yeah right! When someone pointed out that the place for women is at home to take care of the family you were quick to protest and ridicule the commenter. You want equality or rather you want to be more equal than men!

The truth is that Joseph is so upright that you can’t find any corners to attack him on so you resort to personal attacks on his appearance. That is evil and vile and unacceptable coming from the mouth of a journalist.

Note that KM employees had already agreed to a wage increment freeze and improved working practices back in 2004, when a rescue-plan had been signed by the management and the four unions representing employees. Workers did their bit. Sacrifices were made, cabin crew reduced, less overtime, Holiday Inn & Hal Ferh sold, and yet? Seven years down the line we’re back to the drawing-board due to sheer mismanagement.

Air Malta could have expanded its operations, open up new routes and enjoy subsidies (now taken by low-cost airlines), in order to maximise the potential of its ‘excess’ workforce. Downsizing operations, such as reducing aircraft fleet and outsourcing would obviously make a number of workers redundant. I have nothing against outsourcing if it is done gradually and enhance competitiveness – yet I’m told these outsourced services have cost Air Malta dearly and personal interests were involved.

Decisions have to be made. I agree that staying put would endager the feasibility of the airline, with all the economic ripple effects one could imagine. However, solutions have to include first and foremost, route analysis, pricing, promotions, load factor, subsidiary operations, and market penetration in Europe. Shedding workers is the easiest option. We had higher expectations from a €500,000 a year CEO and friends-of-friends.

At least, some sort of responsibility has to be shouldered by whoever appointed past Board members, approved decisions and promised job security to these employees in order to get their vote despite having sacrificed part of their income since 2004. The least one could do, is redeploy these workers somewhere else as their dismissal could lead to unforeseen hardships. 511 families are at stake.

PS: Under Louis Grech, Air Malta was profitable.