The news that Air Malta is effectively being turned into a low cost airline has been welcomed by the public at large, and the recipe seems to be working, at least for now. Bookings were immediately up by some 30 per cent, according to the company.

Air Malta has joined a number of other airlines in adopting a no-nonsense approach, slashing prices to more reasonable levels and not making passengers pay for luggage they do not need. This means that people can now do city breaks without breaking the bank.

The news that the airline will be adding some new destinations, apart from routes that had been scrapped but were recently reintroduced and the prospect of Air Malta cooperating with other airlines has made things more interesting.

Naturally, there are those who are not too keen on the latest developments. There are many members of the public who feel extremely emotional about Air Malta. They speak of it as if it ranked among the best airlines in the world and refuse to fly with anyone else but Air Malta, even if seat prices are ten times those of the competition.

Then there are the airline employees, whose concerns are obviously more justified. One can understand why these workers feel uneasy, scared even, at the prospects looming ahead.

At the end of the day Air Malta is a business that is crucial to our country not because of the sense of national pride it gives to certain people, or the hundreds it employs, but because it remains one of the largest carriers in a country whose economy relies greatly on tourism.

Some very bold decisions are finally being taken at Air Malta, and sacrifices will have to be made. The government, like in the case of Enemalta, has hived off some of the airline’s operations and transferred workers to another, state-owned company. The authorities are also pledging that the workers’ take-home pay will not be affected.

The PN has sounded the battle horns and, in its media ran stories about how these workers “woke up one morning to find they were no longer employed by Air Malta.” It is kicking up a fuss not because these workers were sacked (thankfully they were not), but because they were transferred under a company with a different name. At the end of the day what does it matter that the name of the employer has changed if the jobs are still there and the salaries are still coming in?

This could possibly be the first real chance for Air Malta since the restructuring process started in 2009. That process has only managed to keep the airline afloat – just barely – but there has hardly been any improvement in the overall situation.

Air Malta needs to be a leaner, more efficient airline if it is to survive in today’s cutthroat environment.

We are not saying that workers should be sacked gratuitously, but the survival of the airline, and the tens of thousands of tourists that it brings to our shores are more important than a few hundred jobs, in the great scheme of things.  In any case, no workers are actually being made redundant and we live in a country where the government steps in to find jobs when a private firm goes bust, let alone a public one.

It is understandable that the unions fight to obtain the best that they can for the workers they represent but they also have to realise that if they are not open to some degree of compromise there will be no airline to employ these same workers.

There is no miracle cure. It is just not possible to retain all those workers on the books without the company going under. This is a fact that we have to open our eyes to once and for all.