Labour questions piecemeal disclosure on Air Malta appointments

The Australian firm Catalise has a six-month contract to temporarily fill key management posts currently vacant, such as chief financial officer, human resources manager, and train Maltese staff who will eventually take over. One of its managing partners, Ray Hart, was appointed as the national airline’s chief restructuring officer, but no mention was made at the time of this announcement that it was actually his company which had been engaged to handle the restructuring. 

Additionally, Hart appears to have appointed his other partner Neale Anderson as human resources manager. Labour said it was Air Malta chief executive Peter Davies who chose Hart from Catalise, whose website shows a testimonial from Davies when he was CEO of SN Brussels Airlines.

Australian-born Ray Hart, who has worked with Peter Davies before, has vast experience in business restructuring and implementation. A chartered accountant by profession, he has previously been involved in several airline projects.

“Now that the truth has emerged about these appointments, Air Malta employees and taxpayers should know who much Catalise will be paid, or if it is Hart and Anderson who are being paid individually,” the PL said in a statement. “This lack of transparency just worries Air Malta workers who are being asked to make sacrifices.”

Fenech has said it is important that Air Malta has the right people to manage the restructuring process, which had to start immediately and not await the EC’s final approval of the plan.

According to the original Air Malta announcement, no mention is made of Catalise. “Ray Hart brings with him the in-depth and hands-on knowledge of similar processes,” Peter Davies says in the statement. “His leadership qualities are well known. I am sure that together with the senior management team that will be appointed in the coming weeks he will lead the process in a seamless transition”.

Further changes at Air Malta included an overhaul of its board of directors, with Air Malta chairman Sonny Portelli not being reappointed and being replaced by former tourism authority chairman and Farsons managing director Louis Farrugia.

The other board members are Alison Attard, Andrew Calascione, Alan Caruana, Roderick Chalmers, Adrian Coppini, Helga Ellul and Mark Micallef Eynaud. All are new except Alison Attard and Adrian Coppini.

Alan Caruana, the man who negotiated the advent in Malta of low cost carriers Ryanair and Easyjet, has been appointed to the board by Tonio Fenech. Roderick Chalmers, the BOV chairman, is currently weathering the BOV property fund fiasco.

Fenech has said that the ball is now in the European Commission’s court with respect to Air Malta’s restructuring plan. The plan will now be subjected to scrutiny by a team of experts in Brussels who may ask for clarifications or even disagree with the contents and ask for changes.

Should the Commission continue to register disagreement, then Air Malta may be forced to dissolve all of its assets and immediately pay back the loan and ground all operations. “Air Malta is not a lone case. Throughout these years we have seen many airlines go through a similar process, and we shouldn’t be over-dramatic,” Fenech said.

The finance minister would not go into the content of the restructuring plan, which so far has been a main bone of contention between the airline and ALPA, the Airline Pilots Association. With a 1,500 workforce and 12 leased aircraft, the plan reportedly suggests the slashing of 600 jobs, prompting concerns from the General Workers Union.