Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1494132
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 MARCH 2023 NEWS Opera onal Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 "Fostering a compe ve and sustainable economy to meet our challenges" Project part-financed by the Cohesion Fund Co-financing rate: 85% European Union Funds; 15% Na onal Funds PROMOTING NON-CONVENTIONAL WATER RESOURCES IN MALTA A CONFERENCE BY THE ENERGY & WATER AGENCY TOGETHER WITH THE GLOBAL WATER PARTNERSHIP (MEDITERRANEAN) ON JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE 4TH PHASE OF THE ALTERAQUA PROGRAM! THIS YEAR'S FOCUS IS ON PROMOTING NON-CONVENTIONAL WATER RESOURCES (NCWR), WITH A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON RAINWATER HARVESTING APPLICATIONS. NCWR IS AN INCREASINGLY CRITICAL TOPIC AS THE MALTESE ISLANDS SEEK TO ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPROVE WATER EFFICIENCY. THE CONFERENCE WILL BRING TOGETHER FOREIGN AND LOCAL EXPERTS WHO WILL SHARE THEIR BEST PRACTICES AND FRAMEWORKS FOR INTEGRATING NCWR INTO INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM) PLANNING. FOLLOWING EACH SESSION, WE WILL HOLD A PANEL DISCUSSION TO ENCOURAGE STAKEHOLDERS TO CONTRIBUTE THEIR IDEAS AND OPINIONS AND GAIN A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE TOPIC. REGISTER BY SENDING AN EMAIL ON INFO@EMCS.COM.MT OR CALL US AT +356 27772777 WED 15TH MARCH 2023, 9:00 TILL 16:30 AT ESPLORA Il-Birgu Cittá Vittoriosa Bormla Cittá Cospicua L'isla Cittá Invicta Il-Kalkara CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Finance minister Clyde Caru- ana in 2022 had already said that Air Malta required a cap- ital injection "but when and how this will happen depends on the decision the European Commission will make." A year earlier, he warned that without the green light from Brussels, "Air Malta will not live. It will just have weeks to live." 'Courageous reforms' Whether Air Malta would close down and be replaced by a new national airline has so far not been answered, but Carua- na did entertain the possibility when harping on the need for "courageous reforms". "My remit is to ensure that the reform plan is implement- ed. What happens to the com- pany depends on Brussels and I will do nothing at the airline that does not enjoy the Euro- pean Commission's support." Caruana has previously said that certain collective agree- ment work practices were costing the airline hundreds of thousands of euros and that these had to change. " I cannot understand how a com- pany has workers who leave at 55 and continues to pay them wages until they reach retire- ment age at 65. This makes no sense," Caruana said. For example, Air Malta forks out thousands in payments to pilots who retire in line with a collective agreement clause that government may 'buy out'. The collective agreement clause states that individuals aged 55 or more, who have been pilots with the national airline for more than 25 years, would be paid two-thirds of their salary each month until they retire. Air Malta has been passing through a painful restructur- ing process as government seeks the European Commis- sion's green light to shore up the airline. Caruana had an- nounced a voluntary employee transfer scheme in a bid to cut Air Malta's workforce by half and save €15 million per year in wages. Pilots were excluded from this latest exercise since Air Malta had sacked 69 pilots in the summer of 2020 after talks with the Airline Pilots Association broke down. The move came after a pro- tracted stand-off between the airline's management and pi- lots after the latter refused to accept a social wage of €1,200 per month in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. "Good sense must prevail," Caruana had said in Novem- ber 2022, saying Malta could not afford a national airline that loses €40 million annual- ly, and that over the years had burnt through €400 million. "We cannot have an airline that flies to Brussels, Charles de Gaulle and Heathrow and loses money. Many will criti- cise our decisions but practic- es that make no business sense cannot continue," Caruana said. 2020 request for state aide Government filed a formal state aid application in Octo- ber 2020 in order to provide Air Malta with financial assis- tance after suffering a major hit during the pandemic. Air Malta benefited from a state aid injection of €200 million back in 2012, and further cap- ital injections from strategic asset sales to the government. Even Air Malta's slots in ma- jor airports were hived off to a separate government com- pany, which leases them back to the airline as a way of safe- guarding these slots should the company be shuttered. In 2021, Clyde Caruana said Air Malta was facing as much as €62 million in losses for the entire year due to the effects of the pandemic. "Air Malta is in a pitiful state," Caruana said. "If before the pandemic the airline was already in a state of unhappiness, as it were, now it is has become pitiful." mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Government fears Brussels thumbs-down