Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said that he excludes absolutely nothing when asked if the government is prepared to go to court to stop industrial action enacted by the pilots' union, potentially disrupting KM Malta Airlines operations.

The Airline Pilots Association kickstarted industrial action against the national airline on Monday, with the action coming after an impasse between the union and the airline over working conditions. Reports indicate that pilots were instructed not to allow passengers to board aircraft until the fuelling procedure is completed, as well as being instructed not to accept any changes to the planned roster until duty time.

In a statement in response to the industrial action, KM Malta Airlines said that all flights are expected to operate without any cancellations, stating that while some flights may experience delays, none are expected to be cancelled.

The Finance Minister said that the main issue revolves around the recruitment of new pilots.

Caruana said that while the government is honouring the golden cheques, a commitments which entitled former pilots to receiving €1 million upon early retirement, but said that the goalposts cannot now be moved. He further remarked that the goalposts always seem to move during the summer months. He remarked that doing this during the summer months is unfair on the Maltese and Gozitan taxpayers who "paid €400 million to guarantee these people's jobs".

"We have to stand up to this greed and bullying," the minister said, as he expressed that he refuses to budge on this issue as doing so would be going against the interests of taxpayers.

In response to whether or not this is a situation of miscommunication, Caruana said that if it is a case of miscommunication, then things should be clarified around a table. He remarked that in cases of miscommunication, one should not wait for summer to take action. He added that one needs to look forward so that the mistakes of the past do not happen again.