Quick exit for Air Malta designate CEO Cor Vrieswijk
Ernst & Young consultants resume control of national airline after former Easyjet operations director who took airline’s helm in December, leaves.
The designate chief executive of Air Malta, who was appointed to the position back in December 2010, has resigned, sources have informed MaltaToday.
Cor Vrieswijk’s hasty departure comes in the wake of major questions on the restructuring plan for the beleaguered airline, which the government has taken back to the drawing board.
Today Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said the plan had been fraught with incorrect headline figures.
Vrieswijk could not be reached for comment. He was formerly EasyJet’s director of operations, resigning after a summer of delayed flights and cancelled services at the budget airline, the Financial Times reported. In 2009, he brokered a deal with SR Technics’ new facility in Malta for EasyJet’s Airbus fleet, which will grow to 207 aircraft by 2012.
The restructuring plan presented by Ernst & Young was presented to the Air Malta steering committee for its consideration, but have now been asked to carry out ‘fundamental changes’ to their proposals.
The Ernst & Young team is led by Ernst & Young partner Alan Hudson. Robert Palmer, former easyJet Group Financial Controller and BMI Chief Financial Officer Robert Palmer (also a former assistant director of E&Y), has also been drafted in.
The Airline Pilots Association has already stated that Air Malta’s restructuring plans will lead to the destruction of the airline. “Details gathered in compiling these restructuring plans are distorted, rendering these plans indistinct,” ALPA said.