‘Government must guarantee Air Malta success’ – Busuttil raises privatisation fears

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has asked for guarantees on Air Malta's restructuring programme, citing rumours over whether the ambitious €260 million plan for the national airline will enable it to become profitable.

"Taxpayers' money cannot be wasted on this restructuring, and the one-time subsidy for the airline cannot happen again. Other than that, there would be no choice but to privatise the airline, and if the government has the intention to privatise Air Malta, the general public and especially Air Malta employees have every right to know."

Busuttil was addressing the first policy seminar organised by the Nationalist Party on tourism as part of a series of activities to commemorate the World Tourism Day.

Busuttil inquired about the restructuring programme that was pushed by the previous government and raised doubts on whether the restructuring process will be a success. "The subsidy was an exception, a one-time, last-time occasion so the government has to make the best out of it."

He questioned why several infrastructural projects such as those at forts St Elmo and St Angelo, started by the previous administration, had been  interrupted.

He argued that some focus on competitive advantage when it comes to the Tourism Sector rather than comparative advantage.

"The extended honeymoon has finished," Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo chipped in, in his evaluation of the new government. "This government has not put forward any new ideas for tourism. And the PN is working hard to see that the record arrivals we achieved in the past keep on happening."