Threat of industrial action by pilots in Air Malta – MaltaToday
MaltaToday reports that the Airline Pilots Association has voted in favour of industrial action, threatening a full-blown strike to leave Air Malta planes grounded, unless the government accedes to their demands.According to the report, ALPA is requesting a guarantee on an early retirement scheme which sees them receiving close to €700,000 at the age of 55.
The pilots are requesting that the government guarantees their early retirement scheme, even if Air Malta should fail as a company – a move seemingly taken after the launch of Ryanair’s subsidiary airline Malta Air.
The report says that the ministry warned ALPA pilots against taking rash indus trial action.“Unless the pilots change their behav- iour, the handling of Air Malta’s growth operation will not be undertaken through the core airline, but entrusted instead to Malta MedAir,” the govern- ment-owned company which owns air- line slots used by Air Malta, as well as a share in the Malta Air airline that is run by Irish low fares giant Ryanair.
