The costs for the national airline, Air Malta cannot remain as they are, and the company needs a number of restructuring decisions, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Wednesday.

After a press conference on additional aid to the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) mechanism for vulnerable people, Caruana was asked on an update on Air Malta. Government has been fighting to save the airline which has been struggling for a number of years.

Caruana said that the airline needs to pass through many restructuring decisions, and the costs need to be cut from various angles.

“We cannot have an airline with eight airplanes, and the costs remain as is,” Caruana said.

He said that government’s plan is ongoing, and that it is waiting on a decision from the European Commission.

Caruana said that foreign consultants also gave their input into the conditions the airline needs to have to become viable again. Speaking about monetary costs which he did not divulge, Caruana said that those ‘numbers’ are the only ones with which the airline can be saved.

“The airline needs a large amount of capital injection to survive, we are talking about hundreds of millions. These are necessary,” Caruana said.

Asked what type of decisions are to be made, and if the cabin crew will receive a lower wage, being the sector most affected by the cost-cutting, Caruana did not divulge details but said that government is discussing with the cabin crew union, as well as the European Commission. After that, the public will know of the decisions being made.