Air Malta has shelved a rescue plan it had drawn up and will be opening discussions for individual collective agreements with the four unions at the airline after the unions expressed different views about putting the plan into effect.

The airline said that last December the airline’s chairman and management met the representatives of the four unions and presented detailed proposals which the airline felt were necessary for its long-term commercial viability, while at the same time guaranteeing the employment of its staff.

The intention was to enter into a two-year agreement with the four unions so that the airline’s financial turnaround, on which substantial progress had already been made but was not yet finalised, would be achieved and sustained on a long-term basis.

In the plan proposed, Air Malta said, it would have committed itself to further enhance its revenue streams and reduce further its operating costs and overheads.

The unions had to submit their reactions to the proposal by the middle of January. Of the four unions, two expressed preference for negotiating a collective agreement rather than start discussions for a second rescue plan. The other two unions expressed reservations about a number of issues in the company’s proposal or asked further questions.

The Malta Independent has learned that the union representing the pilots, ALPA, and the union representing the cabin crew, were the two unions which did not want to go for the rescue plan.