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19.09.19 3 FROM PAGE 1 A spokesperson for Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi told BusinessToday that the government intended to implement its strategy of opening such routes to new markets, and that, although Air Malta re- mained the preferred choice for operat- ing the new flights, if no agreement was found with the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) in this regard, it would be forced to seek "alternative means". e ministry is insisting it cannot accede to ALPA's request that government guar- antee a €700,000 early retirement scheme pay-out for pilots who reach the age of 55, even if Air Malta should fail. is, the minister has said, was not pos- sible, since it was not standard practice and would breach EU state aid regula- tions. But, speaking to BusinessToday, an ALPA member yesterday disputed the minister's statement, claiming the pi- lots' union had never made a request for €700,000. e ALPA member said that the union's only demand was for a guarantee that Air Malta would not be closed down. No re- quests for money were made, they insist- ed. "We never mentioned €700,000 and never demanded even one cent. None of the minutes of our meetings with govern- ment feature a reference to that sum. We just wanted a guarantee that Air Malta would keep operating," the ALPA mem- ber said, adding that the pilots had re- quested that their pensions be safeguard- ed should Air Malta fail. "When Malta MedAir was set up, we feared this could signal that Air Malta would be closed. All we wanted was a guarantee for ALPA members assuring us that there wasn't a danger of Air Malta ceasing operations," the union member emphasised. Any guarantee would breach EU state aid rules But in response to this, a ministry spokesperson last night told BusinessTo- day that the request for the government to guarantee the pilots' early retirement scheme €700,000 pay-out had in fact been brought up by ALPA. "e request for Government to guar- antee the pilots' early retirement scheme pay-out was made to Minister Mizzi and the Permanent Secretary within the Min- istry for Tourism in the presence of Air Malta Chairman (Charles Mangion) and Air Malta CEO (Clifford Chetcuti) dur- ing a meeting held with the president of the Union, Mr Dominic Azzopardi at the ministry," he said. "Even if the request was for the govern- ment to guarantee that Air Malta will not cease operations, the government would not be in a position to give such a guaran- tee due to state aid restrictions," the min- istry spokesperson said. e government, as the main Air Malta shareholder, remains committed on im- plementing its strategy for the sustainabil- ity and growth of the airline. e govern- ment intends to implement its strategy of opening medium- and long-haul routes to new markets, complementing the ob- jectives highlighted in the Malta vision for Tourism 2025. "Air Malta would clearly be the first and preferred vehicle through which this strategy ought to be implemented. Never- theless, the government cannot jeopard- ise the implementation of this long-term strategy if not all sections of the compa- ny are amenable to working together to- wards this goal," the ministry spokesper- son said. "Accordingly, if ALPA's current attitude towards the future of the airline does not change, Government will be constrained to seek alternative means (other than Air Malta) to implement this strategy. Studies are currently being conducted as to how to operate such routes to and from Malta and various strategies are being planned and formulated." Pilot shortage When speaking to this newspaper, the ALPA member also complained of a "pi- lot shortage", saying that there currently weren't enough pilots at Air Malta to op- erate the planned long-haul routes, and that resources were stretched thin, with leave being refused. "We are not even being granted leave… not even the eight days off a month we are entitled to by law," the union member said, "ere is a shortage of pilots." e member, however, acknowledged that a number of flight cadets were cur- rently undergoing training. But, once again, the ministry had a dif- ferent take on the matter, e ministry spokesperson said that the pilots' union had in fact been "inflexible" in not even permitting the company to appoint additional line training captains to help with cadet training. "Air Malta pilots' working conditions are comparable to industry standard," the ministry spokesperson said, "So far ALPA has been inflexible even to allow the com- pany to appoint more line training cap- tains to facilitate the cadet training pro- cess, which process will further increase the pilot compliment. is notwithstand- ing, the company has taken on board ALPA's views and is currently acting to address the perceived shortage through training of new pilots." e ministry spokesperson confirmed that Air Malta and ALPA had agreed on all principles relating to operations. "However, ALPA isinsisting on a guar- antee by government," the spokesperson added. "e government will not enter- tain any such requests and will not enter into any agreement between the airline and ALPA." ALPA member denies union ever brought up pay-off guarantee in discussions with airline Tourism minister Konrad Mizzi is insisting any sort of government guarantee would breach EU state aid rules "If ALPA's current attitude towards the future of the airline does not change, Government will be constrained to seek alternative means (other than Air Malta) to implement this strategy" POLICE have questioned Vallet- ta's Augustinian parish priest over the theft of priceless artworks and silverware from his own convent, MaltaToday has learnt. Sources close to the investiga- tion said the police were led to Fr Deo Debono's door when the au- thorities were alerted to the pres- ence of a stolen silver thurible at an antique shop. e incense holder was reported stolen from a cloister used by the Augustinian nuns in Valletta. Sources said it was the shop own- er who led the police to Debono. Further investigations uncov- ered more stolen items, includ- ing "priceless" paintings that were found in a house known to Debono. It remains unclear what the priest's involvement in the case is but sources said he was spoken to at length by the police. "He could simply be the middle- man," the sources said, refusing to be drawn on whether there were plans to charge the priest in the coming days. News of the theft of priceless paintings from the St Augustine church first emerged earlier this year when In-Nazzjon reported the matter. e newspaper gave more details of the case over the past two days. It is understood that the issue came to light after priests living in the same convent noticed that some of the paintings on one of the upper floors went missing, or were replaced by others. e sources said investigations in the case were complicated by the conflicting interests of the people involved. When contacted Debono said he was instructed by the police not to say anything. However, he in- sisted that the allegations against him were being "embellished and exaggerated". e feast of St Augustine in Val- letta is being celebrated on Sun- day 22 September. Police question Augustinian parish priest over theft of artworks, silverware Fr Deo Debono

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