Collective agreement with pilots signed

The collective agreement between the government and the Airline Pilots' Association, the last in a series of agreements with the various sectors of the national airline, was signed today, concluding the Air Malta deal.

Addressing a press conference this morning, tourism Konrad Mizzi said that the national carrier now had the tools required for it to focus on growth, increase frequency, and add new destinations and planes to its fleet.

"The focus in the next months will be on the commercial aspect - we need to fill seats," Mizzi said, "In addition to the Catania-Vienna route we added this week, we plan to launch other routes, possibly Vienna-London or Vienna-Germany."

The airline would be adding a tenth aircraft, for the summer period, to the nine it already had, he said, emphasising that the carrier would need to stand on its own feet, as state aid was not allowed under the new agreements.

President Emeritus George Abela, who led the negotiations team, said that he regarded the finalising of all collective agreements as the "first step towards fixing our home", asserting that regulating the airline's workforce through such agreements gave stability to its workers.

"This will lead to the rebirth of Air Malta, but we are only at the start of it. The joint efforts of all employees is needed. And it is in the hands of the management to bring in business."

In a similar vein, Air Malta chairman Charles Mangion said that now that all agreements were closed, it had to be ensured that the performance targets envisaged in them were actualised.

"We are on the road towards more revenue and seats," Mangion remarked, adding that the airline was planning to change its fleet.

"In November we will change the first plane. This will continue in 2019, in an effort to modernise the fleet and generate more savings," he said.