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Tourism minister ‘unhappy’ with Air Malta situation
Karmenu Vella says Air Malta’s problems are not over, disappointed with airline’s management team led by Peter Davies.
9 June 2013, 12:00am
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
1 min read
The problems at Air Malta are far from over, the tourism minister Karmenu Vella said.
"I'll be very clear. Firstly, Air Malta had a problem and needed a solution. The problem was created by the previous government. Supposedly [Air Malta CEO] Peter Davies and his team were the solution. I would be happy if the problem was solved. However, the problem is still there." Vella said.
In an interview with Sunday newspaper Illum, Vella said that although the restructuring process was still ongoing, "Air Malta still has problems. Therefore, I cannot say I'm happy."
The minister, himself formally involved in the sector, added that he was very disappointed at the way the airline was managed in the last few years.
Stressing that wrong decisions taken in the previous years had a negative effect on the company's finances, Vella concluded that "Air Malta was not managed professionally by the previous government."
Asked what should be done differently, Vella said: "I want to see more positive results. I wish to see more motivation. I am irritated seeing executives, including Maltese executives, who have just started working at the airline and who have made the company their own and with shear arrogance ignore the majority shareholder and treat employees badly."
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The Major problem is that the best staff AirMalta had, left the airline. Many potential staff took the scheme and are now working for the Private Sector, and one of the reasons of the Airline's failure was that there was a big mismanagement of staff leading to huge HR problems. Who the hell wants to work with a company who does not appreciate the staff, when they can find better jobs elsewere. The remaining are those who are afraid of not finding a better or same job standard. Now do the home-works yourself.
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Politics aside, There is a lot of mismanagement at AirMalta brought about by the indiscriminate employment of relatives of current staff members. People are employed because of who they know or are related to , not on the basis of their merits or qualifications, some people in customer relations cannot even speak basic English. AirMalta should have its recruitment needs handled by an outside independent agency and not left in the hands of Department Supervisors as it is at the moment - with the relevant familair connections and preferences. AirMalta should also ban relatives of current employees for applying for positions where their family members are allocated. The employees are the front liners of any organization and AirMalta should employ the best on their merits and not on filial obligations.
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Management at airmalta was always politically appointed. The company did profits only when it operated at the old airport since it had absolute monopoly on the handling of foreign operators and running of all airport operations. At present, MIA manages all airport activities plus Globe Ground handles most of the foreign operators. Ironically enough, managment at globe is run by one of the very few competent ex km managers. The result is that because of such incompetency, Airmalta was never in a position to survive once competition came along!
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The Minister must realise that talk is not enough. Failure by his team to solve the 'unhappy situation'he percieves will mean that Air Malta will unfortunately, like so many other national carriers, face bankrupcy. Who will then be to blame??
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is the minister referring to the maltese executives promoted from a simple o level clerks, just because they were blue eyed boys/girls,prior to the elections!!!!
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The very first thing to do is to get rid of the over-paid part timer.
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Well Mr. Minister send them packing then, and put in those who in your opinion can deliver, we've just about had it up to our necks with these sangue sugi or cash suckers who don't give a hoot about the problems they were called in to help put an end to.
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The airline cannot be saved unless the management finds a way to increase the revenue of the airline. Merely doing a cost cutting exercise will not solve the present problems and does nothing for the future of the Airline. As a matter of fact, it is obvious that this cost cutting exercise is now starting to hurt the Airline; meaning it is doing more harm than good. Another undeniable fact is that results have repeatedly shown, that the business model that AirMalta has been adopted is inefficient and inappropriate for the present and future needs of the Airline. On the other hand the Government must now act decisively.
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I don't understand what the minister of tourism has to do with the national airline. Do you see the tourism ministers in other countries talking about how their flag carriers should be run? (except if they are banana republics).
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Karmenu,time crying over spilled milk is over.The time has come now to take the necessary action.
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The only and best solution for air malta to survive is for the authorities t o clean sweep the previous administration and start a fresh .After all that is why the people demanded change .
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Not only the Minister is unhappy .... even us paying out a salary of €500,000 a year with perks instead of finding ,as Dr. Tonio Fenech some less expensive "CUC MALTI" !
Joseph MELI •
Hardly a ringing endorsement of the Air Mlata hierarchy and how can he hope to have a professional team running the airline with a part-timer for a CEO operating at a distance and remotely ?
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Minister Vella, don't you think it's now time to start delivering instead of talking nonsense. If you're not happy with Peter Davies and his team, just remove them...but before removing them tell us what should be don differently and not just run away from replying to that question.
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"Air Malta was not managed professionally by the previous government." That is an understatement if I ever heard one. Air Malta has been run so bad in the last two decades that the TAX PAYER has pumped over 200,000,000 million euros to bail it out and it is still not out of the woods yet. Last weekend shows how incompetent the new management still is. First the 48 minute delay at LGW caused by the wife of the CEO for Air Malta, the wife of an employee traveling on a Freebie Ticket. Then came the decision to divert a scheduled non stop flight from FCO to MLA and dispatch it to Milan to pick up more passengers. Another one, still on the stove is the 35 minute delay caused by another pilot when he decided to delay a KM scheduled flight for 35 minutes to wait for another fellow pilot Azzopardi and his family, bacause they showed up late for the flight at the Milan airport. That one happened a year ago and I believe it is still under investigation. Give us all a break Minister. Since you are doing the talking, start doing the walking. Stop making excuses for Air Malta and set it on a privatization course.
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Mr. Vella all that you said we know, what need to be added is the thousands of euro wasted. Now go for the love of our country. Please do something.
