This time round the government has held consultations with at least eight bodies from the industry on the appointment of an appropriate candidate to replace Romwald Lungaro Mifsud. This gave the bodies involved the possibility to personally raise issues with the Minister for Tourism on the appointment of the chairman as well as other pressing issues.

Although there does seem to be a wide consensus on who is to be appointed, the appointment has not yet been effected. This was in fact explained to us that despite our recommendations, it will be the government that will decide who to appoint at the end of the day.

There were other names proposed to the government besides the ones mentioned but I feel that it is premature to speculate further.

What we did ask is for this decision to be taken in the least time possible so as to allow time for a good handover between chairmen and also the recruitment of the new CEO as soon as possible.

What I suggest is that we now stop all this negativity once and for all and start thinking positive.

Now is the time for all join hands, rally support, and work together towards one goal, that of bringing our island up to scratch, offering a product that gives clients true value for money and ensuring that our national airline works even closer than ever before with all the stakeholders.

Enough is enough, as in the end the change in numbers will only come if we all pull our socks up (the government/Opposition and all the stakeholders) and contribute constructively to our various bodies/ organisations/associations/ federations rather than being sensational.

The time has now come to start looking at the big picture and stop pursuing personal agendas; we have been doing this for far too long and no good has come out of it at all.

We can all do something no matter how small to turn the situation around but we all have to work together.

Malta is in need of an interesting mix and the coming of LCC, which is a reality, will hit us. This however is only part of the solution.

What we have to ensure is that this does not happen to the detriment of what we already have in established airlines, tour operators and present business share, but will act as a further injection to bring a new type of business to Malta.

Joe Diacono

SLIEMA