The Nationalist Party is not in favour of a company which does not have the national interest at heart taking a controlling interest in Air Malta.

Reports in the past days indicated that Air Malta was in talks with Turkish Airlines to discuss a potential take-over of the company.

In a press conference this afternoon, spokesman Claudio Grech said that Air Malta has a strategic importance in the tourism industry as 50 per cent of the tourists who come to Malta do so via the national carrier.

He also said that 50% of tourists use package holidays, arguing that low cost carriers normally operate point to point, excluding such possibilities.

The PN was building its position on Air Malta based on three principles.

Firstly, They argued that Air Malta is the only national airline thus has a strategic mission in the tourism sector as well as the wider economy. "Under no circumstances must the company be under the control of  of enterprises that do not put strategic national interest as a priority," the MP argued. As such, he highlighted the possibility of utilising local investors rather than foreign investors.

Secondly, the PN argued that future policies must not vary from one legislature and should be based on understanding and tourism and aviation industry skills as well as involving workers' representatives. He stressed that plans should look at the long-term and not just the short term.

Thirdly, Air Malta must be built on purely commercial considerations and not political partisanship.

Five proposals based on these three principles were made.

The PN argues that government must take all necessary measures to ensure that everything is done for effective control of the agenda to be kept in the hands of people with the national strategic interest at heart.

Those running Air Malta must determine the role and character of the airline in a more clear and distinct manner, the PN argued. "Air Malta cannot operate on the model of a legacy airline, with a service that mimics that of a low cost airline".

The PN also believes that there is no need for a reduction in routes or planes than had been during negotiations with the EU as part of the restructuring programme. Aside from having an impact on the company's earnings, a reduction in routes and planes would be a clear signal of a reduction in relevance of the national airline and its role in our economy. Those running Air Malta must strengthen the fleet by creating opportunities to increase income through improving the seat-load factor. They did not, however, commit themselves to agreeing or disagreeing with the decision made by Airmalta to reduce planes but increase flights. They argued that further information was required.

As for strategic alliances, the PN is in favour of Air Malta entering into such agreements, however they must be complimentary to Air Malta's operations and not be the pretext for other airlines to reduce the relevance of Air Malta. He explained that there are many airlines who express interest in Air Malta purely for the slots it has in airports.

The PN are also pushing for a new agreement between the Air Malta workers and those who run the company, who are "the heart of the agenda" and argue that all form of restructure must not end in a reduction of worker rights and their working conditions.

Responding to the Air Malta statement this morning, regarding the reduction in aircrafts, the PN argued that the statement was too short, explaining that more information is needed before the PN could declare itself for or against the idea. 

Also present were PN MPs Censu Galea and Antoine Borg.