PN deputy leader Robert Arrigo today appealed to government to “get our act together” on Air Malta, highlighting the recent streak of delayed and cancelled flights.

Arrigo stressed that he expected much better planning for the airline, and logistics. “I cannot understand what happened. We are renting a new plane nearly everyday. I don’t know the expense of these planes but I expect renting a plane from one day to the next is expensive. Imagine how the people booking feel when they book with Air Malta and end up on Air Horizon or BH Air, Orange2Fly, Smartwings etc.”

“It is not a pleasant experience to come to Malta, see a non-Maltese crew and planes which are not always up to standard." He said Air Malta empoloyees are stretched thin, and warned that they could end up burning out. “There are workers working for many hours, which could be to the detriment of their health.”

“Let’s get our act together.” He said that many Maltese are worrying with connecting flights etc. “If one delays by hours, even a day or has flights cancelled, then they will miss their connecting flights.”

He stressed the need for better information management. He said when people travel through transfers and excursions etc, one cannot afford to spend a day in the airport.

“We are getting a bad name Mr Minister…”

He turned his gaze to the hotel sector mentioning the new trend towards AirBnB, explaining that some hotels still have rooms available in July, the middle of the peak season. He said that Malta has to be prepared for this new trend, stating that some people who offer AirBnB are not licenced, and asked what would occur if some accident in one of these rooms takes place and the person ends up in court unlicensed. He said that if this trend is to spread across Malta and Gozo, local councils should work with the Malta Tourism Authority to ensure standards and licences. He said AirBnB helps attract more tourists, as it offers more bed space on the island.

The PN MP also highlighted the dirt around Malta, stressing that this is unacceptable. "Nobody enjoys or wants this." He also spoke about construction sites, and questioned works starting at 5am. "Is that a holiday, waking up to construction works that early in the morning?"

"We need to turn Malta back into the holiday island we were so proud of."

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi stressed that Air Malta apologises for the issues passengers faced, but said that the number of Air Malta cancellations are low compared to other airlines.

He said that such issues are expected when a company grows as quickly as Air Malta has. He said that Air Malta significantly increased the number of flights with the same amount of crew it had previously, explaining that it will soon add 12 new pilots to the roster.

He said that the planes have to be changed as they are old, adding that the first modetn plane already arrived. He said a brand new A320 Neo will arrive soon. In order to solve short-term issues, they did all that was possible, including renting planes for a few days where needed, the minister explained. He said Air Malta apologises for what happened, but stressed that issues only occurred on a few flights.

He called these issues 'temporary hiccups'.

The minister said that the airline is strengthening the number of routes and increasing passenger numbers.

"Air Malta is here to stay. It has an important role for the country and for tourism. It is our aim for Air Malta to become the airline for the Mediterranean," he said.

To achieve this, he said they needed the planes to fly for more hours, and as such they are looking at the possibilities of having more bases in the Mediterranean, such as in Cagliari and Catania. He said government is in discussions with the MHRA about this, he said, and he also spoke about connecting Africa to Europe through Malta.

He said that after a consolidation phase in Air Malta, they are now in the revenue growth phase.