Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1164933
12.09.19 3 MATTHEW VELLA THE union of pilots ALPA has claimed it carried out its own "in- ternal inquiry" into allegations that an Air Malta pilot delayed a flight to Malta from Amsterdam because he was shopping in the terminal, pub- lished in MaltaToday on Wednesday. The pilot was expected to arrive in Malta in time to fly passengers out of Malta International Airport to Palermo by 10pm, after the originally scheduled 5:30am flight was delayed by 16 hours due to – the airline claims – various pilots reporting in sick and a grounded aircraft that was struck by lightning. "It is a complete smokescreen in- tended to cover management short- comings," the ALPA executive com- mittee said in a statement, referring to MaltaToday's report. "The [Palermo] flight was retimed with a 17-hour delay by the company so that crew operating from Amster- dam would then head on to operate to Palermo as well. Ground handling support in Amsterdam did not man- age to get cleaning services onboard on time, thus extending the delay in Amsterdam." MaltaToday reported that after the 5:30am flight to Palermo (KM662) was delayed, Air Malta resolved to have its flight to Amsterdam effect a quick turnaround at Schiphol airport, and fly back to Malta to take passen- gers to Palermo at 10pm. ALPA yesterday said the captain scheduled to operate to Palermo was transferred to operate Catania instead, as the originally scheduled captain on Catania did not have the minimum legal rest from his previous flight, requiring him to step down from duty. "Air Malta management routinely delays flights so that crew can avail themselves of their minimum legal rest periods," ALPA said. However, Air Malta's plan to have the Amsterdam flight take the Paler- mo passengers at 10pm was thwarted by several delays – MaltaToday has reported – among them allegations that crew ignored company instruc- tions. While the Air Malta flight to Am- sterdam was scheduled to leave Mal- ta at 12:40pm CET on Monday, the departure had to be pushed to 2pm at the start of the standby captain's working schedule. After a 30-minute delay due to late crew boarding, the flight left for Amsterdam. Soon after departing at 2:40pm, the flight was informed to speed up to its destination and effect a quick turnaround, that is, prepare for an earlier return from Schiphol airport back to Malta, so that it could take the stranded passengers to Palermo. The source who spoke to MaltaTo- day said the airline was hoping the plane could be back in air within 45 minutes of landing in Amsterdam. Yet although landing in Amsterdam at 5:36pm (CET), at 6:45pm the air- plane had still not made its turna- round and was still on ground. MaltaToday was told that the plane had not started refuelling upon land- ing, and that Air Malta officials were informed the pilot had gone out to purchase flowers from inside the air- port terminal before any refuelling could take place. The action resulted in a longer turnaround, and the plane only left Schiphol at 7:50pm. ALPA yesterday claimed that ground handling support in Amsterdam "did not manage to get cleaning services onboard on time, thus extending the delay in Amsterdam." Once the plane arrived in Malta at 9:54pm, the pilot was unable to fly the next plane to Palermo of because that would breach his flight hours limit, forcing Air Malta to appoint new crew to fly to Palermo and push- ing the departure to 12:30am. Pilots fly 75 hours of flying duty per month, as allowed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. ALPA, which has been on the war- path with Air Malta over disagree- ments on its collective agreement, today blamed Air Malta's misman- agement as the cause of passenger inconvenience and heavy financial losses. "Our members are currently work- ing at their legal limits and have been prevented from availing themselves of last year's vacation leave entitle- ment, despite the Union's various complaints in this respect. This has been a major contributor to a spike in fatigue experienced and reported by our members." Fatigue is treated seriously in the aviation industry because it is a known causal factor in accidents as a result of sleep loss or workload that can impair alertness. "Management incompetence is leading to a higher incidence of fa- tigue among Air Malta crew," ALPA said in its statement. It also accused Air Malta of not having recruited enough pilots, even though the company is training new first officers and also considering a new recruitment drive. "The shameful tactics being em- ployed by the company in tarnishing its own pilots with frivolous claims will not affect the pilot community from continuing to carry out their duties diligently and safely as ever," ALPA said. Air Malta reaction The national airline reacted to the union statement without denying that Air Malta pilot had been busy purchasing flowers from an Amster- dam airport terminal when his flight should have been making a quick re- turn to Malta to take stranded pas- sengers to Palermo. "The case mentioned was about a delay on an Amsterdam flight, oper- ated by this pilot, that had a further ripple effect on Monday's delayed Palermo flight. "The alleged behaviours of some members of the pilot community are unacceptable. This weekend 13 pi- lots reported sick and this has con- strained operations. These unprece- dented sick leave figures are clearly not in line with industry norms. The airline is disappointed that a dispro- portionate amount of management time is being dedicated to addressing unreasonable industrial disputes." Air Malta said it is still willing to sign a proposed agreement sent to it by ALPA on the 29 June 2019. "The reality is that ALPA are still insist- ing on a Government guarantee for a €700,000 early retirement payment per pilot." Pilots blame ground handling, staffing issues for Air Malta delays Air Malta pilots from the ALPA union in a recent action FROM PAGE 1 The Malta Financial Services Au- thority is in the process of evalu- ating licence applications for five financial institutions, according to CEO Joseph Cuschieri. "We have five licences under re- view, four of which are progress- ing well. I expect the process for at least two of these banks to be concluded by the second quarter of next year," Cuschieri said. Business operators have been complaining over the conserva- tive banking practices of the ma- jor retail banks in Malta that have adopted de-risking strategies in the face of tougher anti-money laundering regulations. Operators in new sectors of the economy the government is try- ing to attract, such as blockchain, crypto, gaming and aviation, are finding it difficult to bank in Mal- ta. Foreign workers also complain of the length of time it takes them to open bank accounts with Mal- tese banks. Cuschieri said banks have been facing tougher rules international- ly, which can explain the lower risk appetite of large retail banks that are important to the economy. According to European Central Bank rules, Malta has three banks considered to be systemically im- portant – Bank of Valletta, HSBC and MeDirect (formerly, Mediter- ranean Bank). These are directly supervised by the ECB because of their importance to the economy. "The solution is to have a wide array of banking institutions oper- ating on the island with different risk appetites and the MFSA is currently reviewing the applica- tions of five banks that primarily operate through online platforms," Cuschieri said. Coming hot on the bad experi- ences of Nemea, Pilatus Bank, and Satabank, all of which had their li- cences withdrawn, the MFSA has also tightened its due diligence processes. "We are spending more money to seek intelligence from specialised foreign companies on applicants and we have also made it manda- tory for licence holders to have in their shareholder structure a bank- ing institution," Cuschieri said. New economy players finding it difficult to bank in Malta