Ageing fleet resulting in ‘certain problems’ for Air Malta, Tourism Minister says

Air Malta’s ageing fleet of aircraft is creating problems for Air Malta’s flight scheduling, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi said on Friday.

In a video message uploaded to Facebook on Friday, after a day of flight delays and cancellations, Mizzi said that Air Malta was facing challenges with management of its crew and would be requiring new pilots in the near future.

A second issue, the minister said, was with the airline’s fleet.

“The A320s we currently have, have been with the airline for many years and are now older,” Mizzi said.

“When they go in for maintenance, while they are safe, rather than two weeks, they end up staying for three, four or five weeks and as such they are creating certain problems for the airline.”

He said that the government, as a stakeholder in the airline, together with the board of directors had decided that it would be replacing the older aircraft in the fleet.

Mizzi said that after receiving its first aircraft a few weeks ago, Air Malta was expecting delivery of a new Airbus A320 Neo next week.

“We are confident that next year, a number of other aircraft will also be changed. Through this process we will be strengthening Air Malta’s operations.”

Flight schedule choas

A number of Air Malta’s passengers were yesterday left fuming after a shortage of aircraft forced the airline into cancelling its Friday flight to Frankfurt and its scheduled flight to Charles De Gaulle on Saturday.

A number of other flights were delayed, while others were merged in order to avoid further cancellations.

On Wednesday Air Malta was forced to cancel its Friday London Southend flight, with a further three flights having been called last weekend.

To make matters worse, the airline yesterday said that one of its planes was damaged after it was hit by a contractor’s catering ground equipment vehicle, further exacerbating delays to its schedule.

“The airline gives utmost importance to the safety and well-being of its clients and crew and is doing its utmost to operate the flights with minimal disruptions. The airline apologises for any inconvenience caused by circumstances beyond its control,” read an Air Malta statement.