Air Malta and the pilots’ association (ALPA) are going head-to-head yet again, with industrial action having been temporarily put-off yesterday.

The reasons for the industrial action also seem to be different, depending on who is telling the story.

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi is arguing that the Nationalist government, in 2012, had given pilots an early retirement scheme, allowing them the possibility to retire at the age of 55 with a €700,000 package. The pilots want the government – that is, the taxpayer – to guarantee that the retirement package is met even if the airline collapses. Mizzi said this is not acceptable. “We are convinced that Air Malta will continue to exist. We plan to expand it. We are talking with the European Commission regarding investment in Air Malta. We are talking about a new fleet with Airbus. But there is only one way for this to be achieved – and this is that all stakeholders, including ALPA, pull the same rope.”

In a statement yesterday however, ALPA seems to give a different reason. Accusing Air Malta of distorting facts and lying, ALPA said: “Air Malta’s professional flight crew is entrusted by the airline’s passengers to safely carry out the daily core operations of the company. This is done diligently and to the utmost and best of our members’ ability, who have, on many occasions, unwillingly agreed to forego their legal rights and entitlement when faced with threats and intimidation by the airline’s management. As a necessary consequence, ALPA has had to resort to industrial action in response to the management's numerous attempts to deploy crew illegally against the stipulated procedures, as well as in response to the company’s persistent failure to address concerns relating to the safety and well-being of its members.”

What is true however, is that if the industrial action were to resume or escalate, tourists and the Maltese people will suffer.

While industrial action had been called, a request by Air Malta for a court to temporarily stop industrial action by the airline's pilots was upheld by the court yesterday, and ALPA temporarily withdrew the action. The court will be convening next Friday 5 July to discuss this injunction. This will at least give both sides some breathing room and they can hopefully come together.

The industrial action, if it resumes (given that the action had begun yesterday morning and some flights were indeed delayed), involves delaying all Air Malta flights by 30 minutes, unless it is escalated.

In an environment which is becoming ever-more competitive, doing so during the peak summer months could have severely damaging effects on the airline’s reputation and on passengers choosing to fly Air Malta. Such an action is counter-productive. Tourists and locals alike could miss connecting flights, the time slots allocated to Air Malta flights abroad could be affected which could results in further costs on the airline... The national interest must come first, the people of Malta must come first. Both sides need to come together and find agreement.

If the airline pilots are making such a demand regarding guaranteeing the early retirement scheme out of fear of the new Malta air agreement, then the government needs to reassure that Air Malta will still be pushed to have new profitable routes for example, and still be a key player in the industry as it would seem Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s words are not enough. At the same time such an industrial action over just this particular point could be seen as excessive and very unfair on passengers. If Air Malta is mismanaging their employees and ‘deploying crew illegally,’ then they need to stop doing so and act appropriately.

Air Malta has been doing better financially lately, however it is still not anywhere close to thriving, and prolonged industrial action of this type could have far-reaching consequences.