Air Malta out-ranks Malta Air in working conditions, pilot satisfaction

Pilots rate Air Malta higher than Malta Air for its working conditions, work-life balance and contractual arrangements, but both airlines leave more to be desired in social responsibility.

The European Cockpit Association contacted pilots from across Europe to rate the airlines they work for and determine the working conditions at each company.

Air Malta beats its counterpart Malta Air on the social scale, offering quality contractual arrangements and a stable employment model, according to a survey by pilots lobby European Cockpit Association.

However, Malta Air fares better on collective bargaining and work-life balance, albeit by a small amount.

Air Malta is the overall high-scorer between the two, with a social rating of 61. Malta Air falls close behind with a 55 rating.

However, both fall behind compared to many of their European counterparts. A third of all airlines achieved a ‘Social Excellence’ rating between 80-100, offering stable working conditions and general job satisfaction.

These airlines include Air France, which tops the list, KLM and Lufthansa.

Air Malta falls on the tail end of the ‘Social Partner’ category, which incorporates all airlines with a rating between  60-79. Malta Air is considered a ‘Social Snail’, doing well in some aspects while under-performing in others.

Malta Air and job redundancies

In 2019, Ryanair launched the subsidiary airline Malta Air with a fleet of six aircraft. The airline was set to take 62 Ryanair routes that operated out of Malta, while registering over 50 other aircraft to Malta’s aircraft register.

However, a group of around 60 cabin crew and pilots working for the company were threatened to be made redundant in a cost-cutting effort amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Employees were offered a 10% salary cut for the next five years as projections showed the company was unable to recover from the pandemic in the short-term.

The redundancies were eventually put off when the pilots agreed to the pay cuts. On the other hand, Malta Air failed to reach an emergency agreement with its cabin crew workers, resulting in the loss of 40 employees.

According to the airline, the agreement would have included modest pay cuts, to be restored over four years, along with a minimum pay guarantee and three-year review.

On behalf of the cabin crew workers, the General Workers Union claimed that the company was not willing to guarantee that no redundancies would take place during this period.

Air Malta and industrial disputes

Meanwhile, Air Malta had to make 108 pilots from its staff of 134 redundant, after the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) refused to take a pay cut of €1,200 a month after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the grounding of all flights in April 2020.

Pilots were refusing to accede to the pay cut, claiming their salaries had already been cut by 30% due to reduced flying hours affecting their performance-based pay.

Pilots’ average gross salaries are €140,000 for captains, and €80,000 for first officers. Even without flying, pilots are left with substantial salaries that do not reflect the state of the shuttered airline right now.

The effects of the redundancies will be radical for the airline, due to legal obligations safeguarding pilots’ salaries in generous collective agreements they negotiated in the last years.

The European Cockpit Association, the group behind the satisfaction survey, had written to Prime Minister Robert Abela to express “deep concerns” on the Air Malta redundancies.

The lobby group compared Air Malta’s decision unfavourably to that taken by other airlines. It noted that the majority of airlines in Europe reached job retention agreements with their pilots so that they can take their duties as soon as operations resume.

Air Malta now finds itself in financial shambles, with government looking to secure state aid.

Under EU rules, state aid is strictly only possible for airlines which registered losses due to the pandemic. If Air Malta was insolvent before COVID-19 hit, it might not qualify for State aid.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will allow the government to state its case, even though Air Malta itself has not yet resolved its own operational issues.