Bank of Valletta and the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) recently signed an agreement through which the bank is being recognised as the official partner and also as the official bank of ALPA for the forthcoming three years.

The agreement was signed by Igino Xuereb, chief officer, operations at Bank of Valletta and and Captain James Fenech, ALPA president.

Also present were Lara Spiteri and Ronald Cassar, ALPA Committee members and Joseph Zammit, head product and business development and Michael Galea, head PR, communication and corporate branding at Bank of Valletta.

Mr Xuereb said that Bank of Valletta had always strived to establish a close working relationship with professional bodies such as that of the Airline Pilots Association.

It is through these specific agreements that the bank can be close to the specific financial requirements of different segments of the community.

Moreover, this agreement also confirms the positive working collaboration that already exists between Bank of Valletta and the Airline Pilots Association.

Captain James Fenech thanked Bank of Valletta for the tailor-made product and praised BOV’s initiative of designing products to meet the specific needs of various constituted bodies over a one-for-all product.

The first airline pilots’ union, then known as the Airline Pilots and Flight Engineers Union (APFEU), was established in 1980 by a group of 11 first officers and 5 flight engineers employed by Air Malta.

A committee was elected with the mandate to formulate the union’s Constitution, to register the union and to obtain recognition from its members’ employer, Air Malta.

Today, ALPA has 152 members – 133 of which fly with Air Malta and the remaining 19 being former Air Malta pilots who now fly with other airlines.