WATCH | KM Malta Airline dispute: Finance minister slams pilots’ ‘greed’

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana says pilots’ industrial dispute at KM unwarranted, insists government will not budge on recruitment requests, does not exclude court action

Clyde Caruana does not exclude legal action to stop disruption at KM Malta Airline after the piltos' union ordered industrial action.

The finance minister said industrial action at the height of the summer season was unfair on taxpayers and passengers, blaming it on what he described as pilots’ “greed”.

The industrial dispute comes less than two years after KM Malta Airline was born on the ashes of the former state airline, Air Malta, which had to be shut down following massive losses. KM is wholly owned by the Maltese government.

The industrial action was ordered on Friday by the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) and the measures came into force on Monday morning. Pilots will cut down on time and energy saving measures that are expected to cause delays at the airport.

In comments to MaltaToday, Caruana said it was incomprehensible that pilots should resort to such measures less than two years after government agreed to honour a historic obligation on pay-outs to retiring pilots that would run into millions of euros. The vast majority of pilots at KM Malta Airline previously worked with Air Malta and were expected to retire within four years, at the end of which they will take home a “golden cheque”.

Despite the dispute being termed as a “miscommunication” by sources at the airline, Caruana said the main issue at stake concerned the recruitment of new pilots. He said the union was insisting recruitment should happen at lower grades. The company says it has no such obligation.

The minister insisted that the government had agreed with ALPA two years ago that it will honour the financial commitments—former Air Malta pilots were entitled to a cheque of €1 million upon reaching 55—but these pilots would have to retire after four years. The airline would also be able to recruit new pilots at its discretion.

“We cannot now change the goalposts in the summer months when they can exert the maximum pressure; this is unfair on the taxpayer that paid out €400 million to guarantee the jobs of these people,” Caruana said.

“We have to stand up to this greed and bullying; as a minister I cannot accept this… I will not budge an inch because any inch I budge will go against the interests of taxpayers,” the minister said, calling on all people of “goodwill” to speak out against the pilots’ actions.

Caruana insisted that it was important not to repeat the mistakes of the past when Air Malta was overburdened with financial obligations that ran the airline into the ground.

He did not exclude taking legal action to stop the industrial action.