Pilots each get €750 when Air Malta cancels leave day

Air Malta management says collective agreement too restrictive and expensive to increase cockpit staffing.

Air Malta'’s chief executive Peter Davies has vowed to take on the union and stop “a mentality where they think Air Malta is their private flying club”
Air Malta'’s chief executive Peter Davies has vowed to take on the union and stop “a mentality where they think Air Malta is their private flying club”

Tens of thousands of euros are paid by Air Malta to its pilots during peak months when the airline has to reduce just one day of leave to keep more pilots on its busy schedule and workload, the company has told MaltaToday.

As the airline struggles with new demands by pilots' union ALPA to increase cockpit staffing, Air Malta's chief executive Peter Davies has vowed to take on the union and stop "a mentality where they think Air Malta is their private flying club".

Davies presides over an EU-mandated restructuring plan that has to see Air Malta in the black by 2015, but complains that the collective agreement for pilots is costing the airline cash that other competitors do not have to pay out.

According to the pilots' collective agreement, Air Malta ends up paying €750 to each of its 110 pilots if it has to strike off one day of leave when it doesn't have enough pilots to fly its planes during busy months. The airline says that it has paid up to €82,000 in one peak month alone, due to this liability.

The math is complex. Air Malta has to allot seven days of leave to each of its 110 pilots, for each period of four months, irrespective of the airline schedule. Apart from their 26 days of annual leave, pilots also get a statutory 'day off' after flying that amounts to 38 hours rest – running from 10pm on the first day and ending at 12pm on the third day. On average, pilots will fly some 56 hours a month.

So what happens when a substantial number of pilots request their leave during a peak summer month, like September? If the airline has to strike off a day so that it can keep up with its busy workload, the penalty is €750 for each pilot employed during that month: specifically, it’s the sum of €250 daily for three days, in lieu of the cancelled leave day.

"Does that happen anywhere else in the private sector?" Davies asks, his gripe coming days after ALPA ordered its pilots on a symbolic dress-down after claiming that Air Malta had cancelled approved leave requests. "It was a mistake in scheduling that saw six pilots' approved leave cancelled. But we were in communication with ALPA to tell them we would be rectifying the error," Davies says.

Additionally, Davies says that given the way leave has to be allocated, the airline must necessarily employ an extra eight pilots throughout the year at a cost of €500,000, a cost which he says competitors do not have. "It means that we have to sell an additional 5,000 seats... it's a cost our competitors do not bear so their seats are cheaper."

While ALPA says that the airline must employ more pilots, after complement was reduced to 110 following an early retirement scheme, Davies insists that increasing pilot numbers is counter-productive. "This would increase the 'leave day' liability. If we deny leave, more payments have to be made to more pilots. To eliminate these leave payments [meaning having enough pilots so that no leave gets cancelled] the airline would require 17 more pilots at a cost of €1 million. This is neither an option, nor is it allowed by the restructuring plan."

Intent on achieving a turnaround for the airline, Davies and Air Malta management remain at loggerheads with ALPA over the pilots' collective agreement. In Europe, pilots cannot fly more than 900 hours in a year. In the extreme, Ryanair works their cockpit crew to the maximum allowable. Air Malta pilots fly an average of 600 hours a year, regulated in part due to their 38-hour statutory 'day' off.

So over the past seven months in 2013, Air Malta pilots have flown an average 56 hours each month. Air Malta believes they should be flying for some 75 hours each month, earning a commensurate package that reflects increased flying time. Air Malta currently pays its cockpit crew a total of €9.4 million annually. But resistance to changing the generous allowances that the collective agreement offers has prevented this change in working practices.

"The only way to prevent the expensive liability of cancelling leave days, is through intelligent rostering," says chief flight operations Captain Mark Micallef Eynaud, who adds that ALPA's claims that approved leave was cancelled is "deliberately misleading".

"Only 4% of total leave requests so far were not approved... in September, a peak month for the airline, 12% of the pilots are on leave, apart from an average of 11 days off for each pilot throughout the month. How can 12% of pilots be on leave in a peak month?" Micallef Eynaud says.

Keen on suggesting that they are locked in some union's straitjacket, Davies points out that work practices at Air Malta have been radically changed since cutting down workforce as part of the airline's restructuring plan. For example, as we speak we are in his office in the open-plan layout of the new Air Malta headquarters at MIA's Skyparks business centre. Up until 2012, the airline's departments were split up between six different buildings in what used to be the Royal Air Force command during WWII.

"The company was disconnected before. Now a new sense of camaraderie has been developed, colleagues actually know each other. They can see that the company is about processes, and people communicate better and get problems fixed," he says of the change in mentality that broke a 30-year 'way of doing things'. "It changed the very psychology of what was happening."

While Davies seems confident that he can count on the support of Air Malta's workforce, pilots seem to be occupying the last pocket of resistance to the Welshman's radical management changes. "We have no issue with our pilots. The executive of ALPA, and the Union of Cabin Crew, seem to think Air Malta is their private flying club, but we have to change this way of thinking."

Surely he must be expecting some kind of support from the government, even though his own appointment came in for some criticism by the same party when it was in opposition. "Any support from the government should start from the very fact that it is the shareholder of this company... when push comes to shove, the government should always support the airline," Davies says.

"Air Malta is resolute that it will continue to meet the requirements of the restructuring plan because failure is not an option. We're committed to continue pushing forward its transformation into a profitable airline that contributes positively to the economy of Malta and provides secure and rewarding careers to its employees."

Air Malta: pilots' dispute

Airline pilots' union ALPA has instructed its members on a symbolic dress-down after it registered an industrial dispute with national airline Air Malta.

ALPA says that in the past year the crew compliment of Air Malta was reduced by 16 pilots and for the last few months most of its pilots have been working on an excessive amount of off-days, which they say leads to crew fatigue.

"This demonstrates that there is crew shortage, something which ALPA pointed out to the management on numerous occasions, both before releasing pilots on early retirement schemes and before releasing pilots to work for other airlines," the union said.  "Crew shortage is most probably the reason why recently pilots have been denied approved leave slots for the months of August and September, which is a manifest breach of collective agreement between Air Malta and ALPA."

But Air Malta says pilots are able to fly more hours, earning the salaries they would expect. Currently, a first officer with Air Malta is paid €61,775 while a captain is paid €106,038 on average in a year.

Air Malta says flight hours are naturally higher in summer because more tourists come to Malta during this season. Having limited pilot numbers to 110 in its restructuring plan, Air Malta offered early retirement schemes to 11 pilots aged over 50 with at least 20 years' service, after the collapse of Polish low-fares airline OLT last year, to whom Air Malta had leased 10 pilots.

Air Malta also says that leave requests from pilots climb in the summer months, with 4% pilots on leave in April 2013, 5% in May, 8% in June, 12% in July, 9% in August, and 12% in September.

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Is Peter Davies trying to divert attention from his dealings ? Is this a smoke screen ? Remember his experience with Caribbean Airlines http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Peter-Davies-s-Heathrow-slot-sale-under-inquiry-by-Trinidad-government Trying to blame the Unions , as usual ?
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I beg to differ with Saviour Balzan's opinion piece from yesterday. Why is he covering up for Davies for the defaults on the pilots collective agreement? Who was the CEO of Air Malta in August 2012? Just do a simple google search and you will see several media articles and interviews in Aug 12 with Davies boosting that negotiations with the pilots dragged on during the night and that there was no political interference to conclude the agreement. Who did the maths for the board to approve the agreement? Was not the CEO involved in this? Who is on record saying that if he has political interference he will resign? Very simple Davies is now shedding the responsibility of this botched agreement on the previous government. How nice Hux? Shame on the new PL government for not getting rid of this money sucker being paid from our taxes
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Dear moderator, why is it that you shelved my comment? Was there anything libelous in my comments?
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This is turning out into another Dockyard. Close it down! And quickly please. Do away with Government waste of taxpayers money. Leave business in the hands of the private sector. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no salvation for any and all Government run enterprise.
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In-nurses lijahdmiufl-isptarijiet u residenzi ghax-xjuh, tant ikollhom 'cancellation of leave'matulis-sena li ikun hemm li ghadu lanqas miss il-vacation leave entitlement tas-sena l-gdida! Kieku jiehdu €750 ghalkullcancellation of leave, il-gvern ifalli! Kullhadd b'xortih f'dan il'pajjiz!
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The pilots have been killing the goose that lays the golden egg for many decades now. The solution is simple: Airmalta should be declared bankrupt and disbanded; no money means it cannot pay redundancy money either; everybody should be fired; a new airline should be set up to re-recruit the good people at current market rates and conditions (which are far more favourable than those in the collective agreement).
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“a mentality where they think Air Malta is their private flying club” Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this the same guy who had a plane delayed for his wife?
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having spent all my career with a Major British airline. The system was simple. During peak times summer and Christmas period, only so many staff were allowed leave. The rest had to go on standby and leave could be granted close to the time requested, if it was possible...SIMPLE
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I have checked with a pilot, your reporting on Maltatoday, that when a day leave is cancelled all the pilots are compensated at the rate of Euro 750. This is not so. A pilot is compensated according to his scale of salary, and not a fixed Euro 750 per day, for a day which was scheduled as an off day, not a leave day, but which according to the pilot's roster, is an off day, and he is not on standby and he is called to report for work. This is like all workers who for example on a Sunday they are asked to work.
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In the meantime, 6 euro per hour is the sort of rate most of us earn. No wonder we need subsidised bus fares!
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Many thanks for completely crushing the optimism out of my day. So, for giving up ONE DAY'S vacation leave an AIR MALTA pilot gets 750 euros and I have worked solidly for the last 45 years and get a pension of approximately 960 euros a month and many, many other pensioners get even less! Yes, you have really made my day. ALBERT FENECH
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Joseph MELI
Finally,in the article it stats that Pilots may not exceed more than an absolute maximum of 900 hours in a year -which is true -but that Air Malta pilots only fly an average of 600 hours per annum .However,what it is does not state (besides their mandatory 38-hour"day off") is the maximum number of hours a pilot may fly continuously in any given consecutive timeline period which is a vital consideration as then the pilot (indeed the entire flight crew)would then be what is termed as "out of hours" ,and that his maximum consecutive flying hours timeframe(imposed on a worldwide industry basis) was not mentioned.
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Joseph MELI
I would like to ssk the Air Malta CEO a number of questions with regard to his claims and queries. 1.Does the private sector allow for a part-time ,operated by remote CEO for a country's national airline ? 2.Why did Air Malta sign a collective agreement that ws "too restrictive " in the first place.Didn't anyone at the airline clearly foresee or envisage the obvious problems such terms and conditions this agreement would undoubtedly present down the line at peak times? 3.Why claim that the pilot's think that the airline is "their private flying club " when apparently he and his wife also think this(His wife occupied an unmanifested seat(middle seat always kept empty) in Club Class on a staff ticket -both forbidden on other airlines but nothing wrong when Air Malta do it apparently. 4.Why did Air Malta not initiate "intelligent rostering" when compiling such rosters in the first place to prevent the expensive liability of cancelling leave days?(Which according to Air Malta's CFO,Captain Mark Micallef Eynaud,is "the only way to prevent this"-so why wasn't it done initially?). Finally ,what is most clear here is the shambolic, almost non-existant , organised pre-planning undertaken by Air Malta management -both in ensuring adequate staffing levels post rescheduling and the seemingly "unintelligent" rostering process deployed when approving leave requests-with the associated problems then inherited because of such inept and incompetent planning seemingly unforeseeable.To have no eyesight is a truly horrendous infliction but one which is only matched by having no vision! Lastly, but not least ,why are Air Malta taking so much time to announce the conclusions/findings of their "probe" into Capt Azzopardi's(ALPA's leader) Milangate affair?(JULY .2012) As the CEO has pledged time after time to announce such "shortly"-whatever timeframe that incurs-whilst also promising to take on,and get tough with,the pilots union(ALPA).They must be shaking in their boots -that is if wearing any on their "dress down" days.
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I was pensioned out to make space for political votes.Peter Davies is earning 500 000 euros a year , in which he should work at least 50 weeks at 5 days a week , 250 days . That works out at 2000 euros a day !!! so it is the pot calling the kettle BLACK , since he spends 3 days a week away from Malta , ie 6000 euros worth of leave !!!! Is the CEO playing with our Airline SAFETY ? Flying hour rules for pilots are there for a reason ! Go manage your hotel and let the Maltese manage Airmalta .
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Mela sew hemm haddiema ta l-istat li dahlu ghax-xoghol waqt il-leave u thallsu b'salarju normali u dawn il-piloti jithallsu dik il-hnizrija ta 750 eros fil-gurnata meta din falluta? U dan x'management kien li innegozja u qabel ma din il-hnizrija? Fl-AirMalta l-uniku 'mission statement' li jahdem sew hu: 'Iffanga u isloh kemm tiflah, ghax it-taxpayers ihallsu'? Taht SimonPN creme de la creme' kienu imexxu jew klikka egoista?
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The mind boggles when you are an ordinary employee reading this. If Airmalta could only hire pilots by the hour, they could pay 1,500 an hour and still save a lot of money.
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Good Morning and how very nice to hear someone saying that the wheel is round!! I do have a few questions to pose to Mr Davies: 1 Who was CEO when the pilots collective agreement was signed just before the last election? 2 Why did he not speak up then, and if he did not agree to this why did he not call his employers' bluff? 3 "The executive of ALPA, and the Union of Cabin Crew, seem to think Air Malta is their private flying club, but we have to change this way of thinking." Well what is he waiting for? Two years plus down the line and what about changing this way of thinking, or is it to dangerous and might upset his goal of getting his Euro 150,000 performance bonus. 4 Why does management still adhere to the system of strong with the weak and weak with the strong and many times abdicates its function to manage? 5 Why does management still keep an eye on what politicians 'request' and defer to these requests? These are just a few. Sadly there is no Whistleblowers' Act in place... quite a lot of embarrasing things would surely surface. I am very sure.