Air Malta: Davies’s ‘on track’ comments on restructuring ‘inaccurate’

Air Malta CEO Philip Micallef says former chief executive Peter Davies’s comments that airline was on track under his watch were ‘not accurate’

Former Air Malta CEO Peter Davies.
Former Air Malta CEO Peter Davies.

Air Malta CEO Philip Micallef has today taken issue at Peter Davies’s “inaccurate” comments of the airline’s deviation from the restructuring plan after the former chief executive argued that the plan was “on track” under his watch.

Davies’s comments came in the wake of the comments made by chairperson Maria Micallef, who on national television stated that the national airline had only met its restructuring plan’s annual targets once, under the Welshman’s helm.

Micallef told Dissett presenter Reno Bugeja, the PBS Head of News, that the airline halved losses to €40 million in 2012, but then in the year ending March 2013, its losses were €30 million rather than the €15 million it targeted; and in the year of its expected breakeven, losses will be €16 million in March 2014.

Speaking to MaltaToday, former Air Malta chief executive Peter Davies insisted that Micallef’s claims on the airline’s restructuring plan were “factually inaccurate statements.”

“The true picture is well documented by independent audits, carried out as a matter of law, and a further audit which was commissioned by the current government. At the end of my contract, the airline’s restructuring plan was principally on track, subject to some decisions that failed to be taken and were outside of my control,” Davies said.

But in a reply published this afternoon, Air Malta CEO Philip Micallef argued that Davies’s comments “regarding the audited financials of the Company and the deviation from the restructuring plan were not accurate.”

“The full details regarding the Company's finances, including deviations from the Restructuring Plan, will be published during its Annual General Meeting, that will be held on the 28th October."

Notwithstanding its rebuttal, Air Malta argued that it has no intention to enter in any issue with Davies.

Moreover, Micallef argued “that there is no reason why the airline should not manage to reach its restructuring targets by 2016” - a stand also voiced by Davies.