Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1494132
TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 5 MARCH 2023 • ISSUE 1218 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday 3,650 days of Labour in the era that changed the face of Malta radically PAGES 10-11 The change decade No comment on Degiorgio prison leave PAGE 5, MT2 Editorial RADIO SILENCE GEORGE VITAL ZAMMIT MATTHEW VELLA THE Maltese government is planning to set up an alterna- tive national airline that could be set to replace Air Malta. In a turn of events forced by negotiations in Brussels over the prospects of future state aid for the ailing national air- line, the alternative company is in the works as part of a contingency plan to retain Malta's connectivity with the rest of Europe. A high-ranking government source told MaltaToday the administration was not hopeful about talks with the European Commission for yet more capital injections to keep Air Malta afloat. "The reality is that the gov- ernment is in the final stages of setting up an alternative national airline to replace Air Malta," the source said. The new airline would be rebuilt from scratch. "The plan will mean a more streamlined and efficient company run on strict- ly commercial lines," the source said, suggesting a more cut-throat approach to the business of running the government-owned airline. It would also mean new conditions of employment in which employees, most notably airline pilots, will be expected to mirror the same conditions as in rival and competing airlines in terms of flying hours. "The blunt fact of the mat- ter is that any new company set up by the government will no longer be a legacy air- line, and unlike Air Malta in the recent past, will have to be run entirely without state subsidies," said the source. "It also will not be able to retain Air Malta's original role as providing alternative routes that might have been not entirely commercial but very convenient for Maltese passengers." New airline planned over fears EC will not give Air Malta aid PAGE 3 Contingency plan to set up new national airline run on strictly commercial lines as decision-makers fear Brussels will not approve Air Malta state aid injection €1.95 'We need to hear Labour dissenters, more' MT2, Interview Horror endured by child migrants in Australia The story of the Ellul brothers 8-9 Dery Sultana's documentary on the Christian Brothers' abuse of Maltese child migrants screens in Malta next week: 'I must tell this story to the world' Peter, Raphael and Manny Ellul (back) were brothers sent to Australia on their own under the care of the Christian Brothers (C) Who Would You Tell?