Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday that the transition period regarding the national airline will be "seamless".

News reports read that the government is expected to launch a new airline that will replace Air Malta on Monday. The development comes at the end of years of discussions with the European Commission. Discussions with the EU came to an end with Brussels rejecting the government's request for State aid to be given to the ailing national airline. Malta asked Brussels for permission to pump €290 million into the airline in a last-ditch attempt to save it, proposing a five-year State aid financing plan intended to help turn the company into a sustainable, profit-making enterprise.

Speaking during a question and answer session during the opening of the Labour Party's General Conference, Abela said that there were many Air Malta reforms carried out over the years, "but none of them really worked."

Abela said that his vision is that of former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, "for the country to have a national airline that is sustainable and that serves the needs of the country. That is the principle we began in discussions with the European Union, led by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, and that is the main principle that was preserved."

He took aim at the PN and the "atrocious collective agreements they signed over the years, through with they loaded the company with burdens it didn't need, that didn't make its operations viable." He mentioned strategic choices "for the purchase of planes that were not adapted for the company and that brought it to its knees. A company which the PL in government had made viable, they drowned."

He said that the government worked with the European Commission. He said that other countries had to give up national airlines for good. Malta, he said, had, has and will continue to have a national airline. The transition period will be seamless, he added. "The service was being given, will continue being given." Abela also announced that the airline will not have its fleet reduced.

He described the situation as one that will continue to provide "the good connectivity that Air Malta today provides for the country."

Speaking about sustainability, he said that "we cannot have a national airline that, in order to survive, periodically needs fiscal injections. That is why we have to move towards this model that I believe can lead to profitability. I also understand the reality that Air Malta needs to serve the social needs of the country."

As an example, he mentioned the repatriations during the pandemic, and flying patients abroad for certain treatments in the past. He said that on Monday the government will reveal more details, and that he believes that this could be a sustainable reform.

Asked about waste collection, Abela said that it is impossible to install a camera on every street or have enforcement officials constantly on every road. But, he said that the mobilization of law and order officials and installation of cameras is an important part, and fines are being given. But he appealed for the sense of civic duty. The more sense of civic duty people have, the more waste management will be a success, he said. He said that it has improved as there is a rising percentage of recycled waste collected.

Turning to inflation, he said that if it weren't for the government's decision to subsidise energy, the electricity bill for a family of four would rise by €2000 in one year. If it weren't for the fuel subsidy, the price for every litre would be €0.45 more, he added.

Turning to the market, he does believe that prices are rising due to what is happening abroad, but also believes that there is an element of profiteering.

He said that there is an element of imported inflation, but there are some people capitalizing on the situation, mentioning the pharmaceutical sector. "Its true our economies of scale are smaller. You cannot compare our market to Germany or Italy, but there is too much discrepancy in prices that are all tied to economies of scale. My appeal to those importing medicines and necessary food provisions is that we understand the increases from abroad, but I'm not in a  position to accept that the cost of living increases the government is giving are being fully absorbed into the pockets of importers. That is something that as a socialist government we cannot accept." He said that the government is pushing with he European Commission for the introduction of legislation like the Critical Medicines Act, "to ensure that we have provision of the most critical medicines in all of Europe, and with reasonable prices.  We can't have discrepancies between identical medicines, having a completely different price in Malta than to brussels. As a government, we will be escalating on price control."