The national airline, Air Malta, has been in the news again, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

To recap: the airline, which has yet to conclude the reform programme agreed with the Commission, has had to undergo some very significant traumas in the past months.

First was the change at the company's top level which happened to coincide with the change of government. Soon after that, the company's new top management was replaced by the present top management. No reason has ever been given but the what we can call the interim management had been known to complain the airline had been turned into a virtual airline.

The new top management has so far taken one clear step, and that was the controversial one of limiting each passenger to a bread roll instead of the previous fare.

Now it would seem that the airline's top management has told its employees that the airline may downsize further its fleet as from the coming winter season.

There have been the usual scenes in Parliament  with the Opposition on the warpath and the Government on the defensive pointing out to past practice when the present Opposition was in government.

So far, it would seem this is all a matter of rumour and reports rather that somebody responsible calls a press conference and states facts as they really are. The public at large, and specifically the employees and their families, surely deserve more timely information.

To decrease the planes being used by the airline does not just have the consequence of rendering a certain amount of pilots and cabin crew excess to requirements but also cuts down on the routes serviced and the number of tourists coming to Malta.

It would seem this saga has no end. One would think the latest rumour is the end of the saga when a new rumour surfaces. Thus the very latest report has been that there are ongoing negotiations related to another airline. The options being considered range from a closer relationship to actually sale of part of the airline.

Again, as reported on the papers, the Tourism Minister on Monday refused to rule out Air Malta's privatisation.

The country, and the media in particular, have to navigate in complete darkness. So too the social partners who have now resorted to public statements expressing their belief the airline should remain Maltese.

The government, through its minister, states it is keeping to the programme agreed with the Commission but the country asks when will all this downsizing stop and the airline, its employees, the stakeholders and the country at large sigh in relief that the national airline has been saved.

As we report in today's issue, the MIA CEO at yesterday's AGM was rather sanguine about the possibility, as expressed by a shareholder, that the airline folds. In that case, the CEO argued, MIA will look for alternatives.

There have been many false dawns at Air Malta and many who said they had found the solution, only for that solution to lead to a worse than before situation.

It is true that the same situation is being faced by airlines many times larger than Air Malta and that many of them have gone under. Undoubtedly, the trend seems to be in favour of low cost airlines and of consolidation by the greater airlines. Air Malta is neither of these, hence it is naturally even more at risk.

Certainly, the inroads registered by low cost carriers seems to have no limits. The latest case is that by Ryanair which has broken into the very lucrative Malta-Rome route already serviced by Air Malta and Alitalia. In Italy itself, Ryanair has now become the most popular airline, even more than Alitalia, a situation unthinkable just a few years ago.

Along with the rest of the country, Air Malta occupies a privileged place in our hearts as we bleed to see its predicament and hope against hope for better times.