Air Malta expressed "its disappointment that Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) continually fails to show the goodwill necessary to ensure harmonious industrial relations as it persists in twisting facts in its communications to try to show the airline in a bad light," after the industrial action the union called was withdrawn.

On Friday 27 April, Air Malta said ALPA had instructed its members not to fly the airline's newest aircraft over an issue related to a cabin voice record deletion button. The announcement came just 22 minutes before the Airbus was scheduled to fly to Catania.

Almost 90% of Air Malta pilots voted in favour of industrial action.

Air Malta said on Friday that the initial delays would cost the company some €180,000, including on compensation fees and other charges. It said ALPA's action was also aimed to disrupt the holiday plans of several Maltese and tourists who were travelling with their families on this long weekend.

Later that day the airline went to court and filed a warrant of prohibitory injunction against ALPA. Air Malta later said that following the court's decision to provisionally uphold the injunction request, ALPA had suspended its action.

"The airline noted that on several occasions, and from the very start of discussions on the matter, it has informed the union that it was doing its utmost to install the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) erase function as soon as possible and had made several contacts with the aircraft manufacturer even before this aircraft was registered under its Air Operator Certificate," the airline's statement read.

"Despite Air Malta's efforts to find solutions to this issue, ALPA rushed to call an Industrial Action on Friday afternoon.

"In the meantime, Air Malta managed to find a solution to implement an in-house modification to install the CVR erase button, months ahead of the originally expected timeline. This modification was done last (Tuesday) night after Air Malta obtained the necessary authorisations and all crews were immediately informed through the official Notice To Crew arrangement today.

"All Air Malta's efforts were done in good faith in spite of the fact that, in Air Malta's view, it was not in breach of the collective agreement as claimed by ALPA

"Air Malta remains committed to resolve amicably any issues that ALPA may have whilst protecting its customers' travel plans, its flight schedule and ensure safety of its passengers above everything else.

"Air Malta thanks its staff who gave maximum cooperation to the airline." to minimise disruptions caused to passengers due to this industrial action