Malta’s reigning party refuses to speak to have a parliamentary discussion following major changes announced for the islands’ national airline, according to the Nationalist Party.

“After the latest developments in relation to the national airline, Air Malta, the Nationalist Party expects that in parliament there will be room for a serious discussion in relation to the future of this line,” the PN said in a statement.

It accused the Labour Party of exercising “policies of deception” by refusing to discuss the future of the airline with them.

“The policy of deception of the Labour Party is also a reflection of the behaviour of the Labor Government whose mind is only to play the partisan game, with a policy of concealment, with the sufferings suffered by the entire Maltese and Gozitan people.”

“It is good to make a Ministerial statement, however, the government should be transparent and leave room for a free and appropriate discussion in relation to this area in our country.”

This comes just after a press conference held by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana on the fate of Air Malta.

The “new” airline which will replace Air Malta will operate 17 routes instead of 37 and use eight planes instead of 10.

The airline has suffered “20 years of losses”, accumulating losses of €356 million by the end of 2023’s first quarter.

Palermo, Naples, Nice, Geneva, Lisbon and Tel Aviv are six routes which have been cancelled.

The remaining routes are now Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Catania, Dusseldorf, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Lyon, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris CDG, Paris Orly, Prague, Rome, Vienna and Zurich.

Air Malta’s final flight will be on 30th March 2024, with the new airline’s first flights leaving the following day.

As of November 2023, Air Malta customers can apply for a refund of tickets post-30th March 2024, with a recruitment process of the new airline kicking off in December.

On 1st December 2023, the new airline will start receiving bookings.

Meanwhile, Caruana has pledged that the airline’s “name will not die”, with a company being able to tender for the Air Malta brand, a name which belongs to IP Holdings (a company owned by the government).

As for Air Malta’s current pilots, they will have four years to decide if they want to leave and not be a part of the new airline… but if they do, they won’t be able to ever join again.

Follow Lovin Malta for more updates