Nothing went wrong with Air Malta’s restructuring process as it is proceeding as planned, with the airline set to shed over 500 employees over the coming weeks and months, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said Tuesday.

Answering questions by the media, Caruana said that in January, he had announced that ground handling operations of the airline had to go, and other redundancies had to be made in a last-ditch effort to save the national airline.

“There are 574 individuals who are interested in moving from their employment at the airline, and that number is still there. With that respect, reforms and restructuring taking place at Air Malta will continue as scheduled and with respect to employees who would like to leave the company, there is an alternative employment option with a take home pay as a guarantee,” he said.

He said that in addition to this, there is also the option for employees who would like to leave to take a lump sum and find a job elsewhere.

Asked if there are plans to dismantle the airline altogether, Caruana said that whatever the plans for the airline are, they are being discussed with the European Commission and once there is an agreement the plans will be made public.

Caruana said that due to employees choosing to leave the company, there has been some recruitment to ensure that the airline operates, however dismissed claims that their wages are equal to or higher than those who have been there longer.

He said that he will also be having discussions with cabin crew and pilot unions, but it will not be on whether the airline will close or not. Caruana added that discussions will continue on the reforms needed to take place, and due to the significant numbers of employees wishing to move, an extension to the deadline had to be negotiated with the Commission.

Caruana said that more reforms will continue in the coming weeks and months, one of which is the seat load factor. Caruana said that the seat load factor was only about 74% to 75%, which has now reached an all-time high of 95%.