Equally, this bit of news carries with it an important challenge that needs to be taken up. It is encouraging to notice that the government, the Opposition as well as unions are in discussions to seek to coordinate together what is required in the national interest. That is ultimately positive not only for the country as a whole but also for the national airline in its own right.
The hike in the price of fuel over the past years has had a very negative impact on the functioning of airlines. What has been happening in the aviation sector is known by any person bothering to follow this important area. For Malta, the issue is not merely one of trying to salvage an airline that belongs to us, but a question of guaranteeing accessibility to and from an island that can practically not rely on any other way of receiving tourists or for that matter of facilitating travel in favour of Maltese people who wish or need from time to time to go abroad.
Ironically it is just below a half of all tourists worldwide who use air travel to move from one area to another. That makes tourism, one of the main pillars of our economy, a harder challenge to handle since we kick off from the disadvantageous position that we cannot seek to attract more tourists by asking them to visit us by train or by car.
Achieving record numbers in this industry despite this disadvantage is to the credit of the government and the Malta Tourism Authority who invested more heavily in marketing and product improvement as well as of the private sector that puts its money where its mouth is to develop further this economic driver with courage and determination.
Bringing over low cost carriers to Malta was a courageous step in the right direction since we cannot as a country ignore new travelling trends or even worse, isolate our country from all those who prefer to travel in this manner and who need to find Malta on their choices’ radar when deciding about where to travel to.
Low cost airlines and charter flights nowadays account for about a third of passenger movements. It would however be extremely risky, and even then I find that the word ‘risky’ is the understatement of the century, to create a situation of total dependency on low cost carriers and charters.
Just as we need roads to travel from one part of the country to another, we need Air Malta to guarantee access to and from the country. Air Malta is a crucial part of the tourism industry equation. Even for that reason alone, it needs to operate in a manner that is cost efficient, feasible and sustainable.
That is where the present challenge lies. The government is now expected to present a restructuring plan for the national airline by 2 January. Making a loss even during the popular summer months despite carrying more passengers than last year is a factor that cannot be ignored. As a nation we must have the courage to implement whatever reforms are required to guarantee the future of our national airline not through State aid or subsidies but through building a future on sound economic principles that are required for better governance of our country and that are in synch with the relevant European rules on the matter.
The restructuring exercise carried out by the national airline six years ago did yield results but since then the impact of far higher fuel costs leads us to look again into what is required to salvage the airline and its future.
It’s a delicate phase for all involved in the decision making process but just as government has managed to carry out major reforms in most of our way of life, government will not shy away from this challenge.
Herein lies a unique opportunity. That challenge can be handled by all of us acting together – proving that the national interest is a unifying rather than a dividing force. I am confident that this can be achieved and we will all have that sense of pride and satisfaction of having stood together on the right side of history.
Dr Francis Zammit Dimech is a Nationalist MP