There can be no doubt whatsoever that the rape of our national airline – Air Malta – is the PN’s greatest political crime of the past two decades. From its very inception, Air Malta was run at a profit and within two decades of its creation its total assets had multiplied astronomically. Air Malta’s golden years lasted until the PN’s return to power in 1986, after which the gold became gradually tarnished and in the subsequent two decades disappeared completely, both metaphorically and physically.

After some 25 years of disastrous mismanagement and an incredible laissez-faire attitude, the ship finally and inevitably broke apart at the seams, with terrible repercussions.

Of course none of the perpetrators of this foul deed, who normally move with alacrity to get their share of the cake, were anywhere in sight when disaster struck.

Despite the dire straits in which our national airline finds itself at present, astronomical figures are still, like an echo from its golden past, a characteristic of this beleaguered entity, only this time they are to be found on the debit side in the form of exorbitant salaries and fees that are being paid to the foreign top management and their consultants. Furthermore, as far as can be deduced from the far from transparent contracts, none of these fabulous salaries and fees is tied to a performance clause. At this juncture, I cannot help reminding myself of that famous Maltese proverb we learnt at school many years ago about the poor donkey and the flies.

What makes the whole situation even more offensive to us citizens with some modicum of national pride and a clear foresight for the future, is the fact that in the search for an equitable solution to the problems being faced by Air Malta, the imperative importance of sustaining a Maltese national airline is not being given the priority it deserves, for obvious reasons. An Air Malta without its present status as a Maltese national airline would be a tailor-made fit for privatisation and a great slap in the face to all Maltese patriots.

Vladimir Cini

MARSAXLOKK