Pilots finally get what they always wanted in €4.5 million salary coup

Money buys the peace in ‘secret’ collective agreement signed between Air Malta and pilots.

Pilots' union boss Dominic Azzopardi: pilots have managed to secure what they wanted.
Pilots' union boss Dominic Azzopardi: pilots have managed to secure what they wanted.

Pilots who led an unrelenting campaign of criticism against the Air Malta restructuring process, will get a €4.5 million raise as part of a collective agreement.

According to reports by The Times, the 'secret' collective agreement for 2012-2015 will see pilots get a raise of over 3% every year, cost-of-living allowance increase, for a total of €17,000 annually.

The revised scale system will see pilots and first officers' salaries capped at €90,800 for pilots and €58,200 for first officers. The capped salaries is hoped to produce a natural wastage of older and higher-earning pilots taking early retirement, and bring down the staff complement of 130 pilots.

They will also earn an extra €5,000 over the four-year period through an enhanced points system for when they are actually called in for duty, and a €4,500 one-time payment for having given up part of their salaries during earlier restructuring processes attempted by the airline.

On their part, pilots will contribute €100 every year towards their insurance costs incurred by the company, and give up either their car park space or chauffeured service.

While negotiating their collective agreement, ALPA pilots' union president Dominic Azzopardi claimed he was the victim of a character assassination by the national airline. Azzopardi had denied delaying an Air Malta flight when he boarded it late, on which he was flying as a passenger. He claimed the airline was trying to get back to him and ALPA for giving notice of an industrial dispute on Friday.

Air Malta posted a loss of €30 million this year, after having received the European Commission's green light for a restructuring plan in which the airline must become profitable after receiving €130 million in state aid. Recently, the Air Malta launched a €1.9 million rebranding of Air Malta.

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well done !!!! pjacir kbir niehu meta haddiem jiehu dak li stinka ghalih prosit
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Pilot's union boss Dominic Azzopardi: "pilots have managed to secure what they wanted." It seems he even managed to hush up the scandal which he caused at the Milan Airport when he and his family were involved in the delay of an Air Malta scheduled flight from Milan to Malta. The story came out in the Times same time the contract negotiations came to a close after four years of negotiating. Coincidental I guess. The CEO of the Gozo Ferry was made to resign after pulling something like this. But Mr Azzozpardi, being the president of ALPA was not diciplined, neither was the captain of the flight who originally delayed the flight at the expense of the paying passengers. How about it Tonio Fenech and Mr Davies? Maybe a bit of hanky panky going on here? This is no way to run an airline.
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sour grapes malonki :( :( !!! Viva GonziPN..... la hemm il miljuni....kulhadd IGAWDI !!! il KBIR ghadu GEJJJ !!! :) :)
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Congratulations to all Air Malta pilots for the wage increase they managed to carve out. I sincerely hope that now ALPA will still keep the general public informed about what is going on in Air Malta and that this salary increase will not buy also the pilots silence!!
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Din hi gharuakza ohra ta GonziPN u greed li iqallak mill-piloti xjuh ta l-Air malta: ovju li b'din iz-zieda l-Pilots ta l-Air Malta ikkundannaw lil airline li minnha jaqilghu x'jieklu biex din tfalli u taghlaq! Possibli, l-Pilots-suppost IQ gholi- ma tghallmu xejn mid-drydocks, fejn il-GWU-immexxija minn nies mhux intelligent- sforzaw zieda biex b'hekk jaghmlu ingassa m'ghaonqhom u din tfalli? Issa meta l-Air Malta tfalli, l-pilots Maltin daqshekk jghixu l-hajja komda ta bhalissa johorgu ghax -xoghol fil-ghodu u jorqdu d-dar fil-ghaxija: issa meta tfalli ikollhom jorqdu 6 tijiem fil-gimgha barra minn Malta:bhal pilots barranin! Shame and Shame!
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L-orgja ta' gonzipn bhalissa tinsab ghaddejja galore ... iqassam il-flus left, right and centre bil-ghan ewlieni li jibqa' inkahhal mal-poter, hu u l-klikka mahmuga tieghu ... imhallfin, magistrati, pilots, haddiema tac-civil, skejjel privati .... jiffanga ma' kulhadd biex jixtri l-voti, minghalih. Veru partit mahmug li se jerga' jdahhalna f'infieq li ma nifilhux ghalih u l-problemi ghal min se jigi warajh, ikun min ikun. GONZIPN ISSA VERU QED IMISS IL-QIEGH ... U AKTAR MA NTAJJRUH MINN HEMM MALAJR KEMM JISTA' JKUN, AKTAR AHJAR. JALLA FRANCO DEBONO JAGHMEL LI GHANDU JAGHMEL ILLUM QABEL GHADA ....
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Now its time Airmalta starts thinking about its passengers. Enough with over paid CEO, wasting money on uniforms, stupid slogans and painting over airplanes. What passengers want is better food, seats further apart and lower fees. BTW - where did Davies - recently running the 'Pride of the Caribbean' should be sent back to his coconut trees.
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What was the outcome of the inquiry carried out by Air Malta against Dominic Azzopardi for delaying the flight to Malta when, as a passenger, he was late to board the aeroplane?
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It appears that only Malta Drydocks employees were the victims.