Quick exit for Air Malta designate CEO Cor Vrieswijk

Ernst & Young consultants resume control of national airline after former Easyjet operations director who took airline’s helm in December, leaves.

9 March 2011, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

1 min read

The designate chief executive of Air Malta, who was appointed to the position back in December 2010, has resigned, sources have informed MaltaToday.

Cor Vrieswijk’s hasty departure comes in the wake of major questions on the restructuring plan for the beleaguered airline, which the government has taken back to the drawing board.

Today Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said the plan had been fraught with incorrect headline figures.

Vrieswijk could not be reached for comment. He was formerly EasyJet’s director of operations, resigning after a summer of delayed flights and cancelled services at the budget airline, the Financial Times reported. In 2009, he brokered a deal with SR Technics’ new facility in Malta for EasyJet’s Airbus fleet, which will grow to 207 aircraft by 2012.

The restructuring plan presented by Ernst & Young was presented to the Air Malta steering committee for its consideration, but have now been asked to carry out ‘fundamental changes’ to their proposals.

The Ernst & Young team is led by Ernst & Young partner Alan Hudson. Robert Palmer, former easyJet Group Financial Controller and BMI Chief Financial Officer Robert Palmer (also a former assistant director of E&Y), has also been drafted in.

The Airline Pilots Association has already stated that Air Malta’s restructuring plans will lead to the destruction of the airline. “Details gathered in compiling these restructuring plans are distorted, rendering these plans indistinct,” ALPA said.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

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Minn ihawwad fil-borma jkun jaf x'fija........ijlom gimghatejn ihhambqu fuq id-divorzju fil-Parlament hin mitluf kompletament, fuq il-Krizi fil-Libja u issa it-Tsunami fil Jappun.........u l-Air Malta lura ghad-Drawing Board.........x'qieghd jigri Ton fejn hu s-support li kellek jaqaw hallewk wahdek issa......?????

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The only CUC is who picked the CUC who ran away

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As from now on GonziPN wan't ruin an other Government run entity; none left!

Joseph Sant •

Min hu c-cuc issa sur Ministru?!

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It is said with peanuts (salaries) you get monkeys running your company and I say with undeservedly huge paypackets one gets crooks , including those who hire them. According to Tonio Fenech the maltese are not able to run a company and cannot be trusted, maybe now that after hiring a foreigner who hightailed it out of town he'll tell us from where he'll hire the next CEO............ from MARS?

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and so the farce goes on. Who's next ? One hint; Robert Palmer, who is actually a FinAancial person, was appointed chief commercial officer. Any one with a basic knowledge in business management would immediately tell you that it is a commercial suicide to do such a thing. Besides the fact that there has not been any noticable improvement since he took over, he is now being entrusted with the Financial department as well. Apparently, our dear minister has not found even one cuc Malti to occupy either position!! But so long as we have foreigners manning top positions, being paid hundreds of thousands of euros, we will be assured of witnessing miracles which will dwarf anything found in the bible. And some people expect that staff and their unions are going to accept to pay for others mismanagement, lying down.