Minister denies government considering tax-free salaries for pilots

Tourism minister Konrad Mizzi has rejected local media reports claiming the government was considering the possibility of offering pilots a tax-free option on part of their salaries in a bid to finalise a collective agreement before the ministry’s end-of-year deadline.

Mizzi has stated on a number of occasions that the coming year could be one where Air Malta could register growth and return to profitability, however this would require collective agreements to be signed with all of the airline’s workers.

In fact, the minister had imposed an end-of-year deadline for the new collective agreements to be signed. An agreement with ALPA – the pilots’ union – is the only pending collective agreement.

With the end of the year just one week away, the Sunday Times of Malta, citing government sources, said that Mizzi was considering offering what was being viewed as a “last-ditch attempt” to convince pilots to agree to the airline’s terms.

According to the report, Mizzi was basing the plan on the fact that most of pilots’ “flying hours are performed in international skies and are therefore not taxable”.

In a tweet, The minister claimed the report was a “complete fabrication”, insisting that the government had never considered any such plans.