Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis today said that he expected much better from the PN’s three spokespersons who addressed a news conference on Air Malta earlier today.
The PN today raised a number of issues concerning the national carrier while also presenting a string of proposals on the airline.
He said that PN MP Censu Galea served as a minister of transport, MP Claudio Grech was head of secretariat when then minister Austin Gatt was responsible for Air Malta, while MP Antoine Borg was the PN’s CFO during the five years before the last election.
“I would have expected that these individuals emerge with something better and not claim that the national airline’s fleet would be reduced by 30% along with the seat capacity,” he said, asking where Mr Grech got this information from.
One of the proposals of the PN is for the government to engage in strategic agreements as long as they are done in the national interest. Dr Zammit Lewis said that the government was already engaging in strategic agreements.
This after reports in the past days indicated that Air Malta was in talks with Turkish Airlines to discuss a potential take-over of the company.
Mr Grech said that it seems that criticism annoys Dr Zammit Lewis from the looks of it. He said that he did not expect Dr Zammit Lewis to emerge with such a partisan speech, today, out of all days.
Mr Grech said that he got is information from the Air Malta CEO who today announced that the fleet would be reduced to seven from 10.
He said that he had to wait for the CEO to officially announce that the fleet would be reduced. Last week, Dr Zammit Lewis did not give a clear answer on whether the fleet would be reduced after he was quizzed by the Opposition.
Mr Grech took offence over the fact that the tourism minister dubbed the Opposition protagonists of Air Malta’s problems, adding that if he were made minister one day, he would never utter these words to the persons who served before him.
PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said that he expected the minister to say what has been done regarding the Malta Tourism Authority when parliament is discussing MTA’s budgetary estimates and not engage in partisan statements.
He said that the minister has a great responsibility to see that the tourism sector continues to achieve good results since the sector is the bread and butter of many.
Dr De Marco urged Dr Zammit Lewis to at least engage in discussions with tourism sector key players on Air Malta's fleet reduction once he doesn't want to engage in discussions with the Opposition.
Lifeguard service should be extended
Dr de Marco said that the lifeguard service should be extended, especially in the light of last week’s incident whereby two British nationals died at Comino’s Blue Lagoon.
He said that although the service starts to be offered from the beginning of June, it would be better if the service was also offered during the month of May. In his reply, Dr Zammit Lewis said that for years, the service started on 15 June but as from next year it will start from 15 May. "You cannot emerge saying that the service should start in May when it is you who failed to implement this measure when you were tourism minister," Dr Zammit Lewis told Dr De Marco.
PN MP Robert Arrigo said that the government should allocate much more funds towards the marketing of the national airline, especially when it allocated so many millions towards the Cafe Premier bail-out.
PN MP Antoine Borg said that the social media rants of the Malta special envoy of the World Tourism Organisation Joe Grima don't do the tourism sector any good.