[WATCH] Tourism minister coy over strategic airline talks

Tourism minister reluctant on revealing any details over ongoing talks with planned Air Malta ‘strategic partner’

Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis was reluctant to reveal any details over the ongoing talks with the new “strategic partner” for Air Malta.

The minister, who was addressing a press conference over reforms in the tourism law, categorically denied any talks with Turkish Airlines. At the same time, he refused to confirm – but did not deny – that the talks with Etihad Airways were underway.

“We cannot go to the workers without first having something concrete in hand,” Zammit Lewis told journalists, who asked why Air Malta workers were being left in the dark.

He reiterated that due to the “commercial sensitivity” of the ongoing talks, he was not in a position to reveal any details.

Negotiations between the management and trade unions have not yet started. President Emeritus George Abela, co-chairing a committee tasked with negotiating the collective agreements, told Times of Malta that the government had not yet concluded talks with the prospective strategic partner.