[WATCH] ‘Nothing’s going wrong,’ Clyde Caruana says on Air Malta restructuring

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana insisted that the Air Malta restructuring process is going ahead as planned, with the airline set to shed over 500 employees over the coming weeks and months.

In comments to the press on Tuesday, Caruana said government is still on track with the restructuring process announced last January, with 574 employees at the airline still interested in accepting a transfer to another entity in the public service or take a lump sum and leave.

“With respect to those employees moving to government we offered alternative employment with guaranteed take-home pay. That offer is still there. The only thing we’ve done since then is including another option for those employees who would like to take a lump sum and find a job elsewhere - that option is now on the table as well,” Caruana said when asked by reporters after addressing a joint press conference with Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, who is also Eurogroup president.

When announcing the restructuring plans in January, Caruana had said that the only offer on the table was an employee transfer scheme to ensure no one ended up without a job. However, government has now agreed to offer two generous financial compensation schemes - a voluntary redundancy scheme and an early retirment scheme for those oover 50.

When asked if the government is considering dismantling Air Malta and replacing it with a new state-owned airline, Caruana said that plans for the airline are being discussed with the European Commission.

“Once I have an agreement with the Commission I will be the first person to make those plans public,” he said, without giving details on the nature of the discussions.

The deadline for Air Malta’s employee transfer scheme was extended from mid-August to later this year after airline bosses feared that the exodus would hamper day-to-day operations at a time when demand for travel shot up. However, government also found difficulty in finding jobs within the civil service structure for well-paid Air Malta employees without disrupting the pay scale system. This led to the introduction of the two financial compensation schemes.

The company received 571 applications  from the 824 eligible employees when the transfer scheme closed on 11 February. This was more than the government was expecting.

Air Malta Executive Chairman David Curmi had told MaltaToday that the company is in discussions with the unions on the new arrangements. A fortnight ago, 95% of GWU members at the national airline voted in favour of the new agreement that includes the early retirement schemes. The GWU represents administrative staff and ground handlers.