KM Airlines has reportedly informed the Airline Pilots Association that it intends to initiate legal action following the union's calls for industrial action, which went into effect on Monday.
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 indicated that pilots were instructed not to allow passengers to board aircraft until the fuelling procedure was completed, as well as having been instructed not to accept any changes to the planned roster until duty time.
Speaking on Monday, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana had said that he excluded absolutely nothing when asked if the government was prepared to go to court to stop industrial action enacted by the pilots' union.
In a letter sent to the pilots' union on Friday and signed by KM Airlines CEO David Curmi, the airline said that the pilots who participated in the industrial action had breached their employment conditions and contracts, as it added that the airline as a result had no choice but to formally register a legal dispute with the Airline Pilots Association.
The aforementioned breach is reportedly linked to a fuel management system known as 'SkyBreathe' which is utilised by the airline, with the airline stating in the letter that the use of the system is part of its obligations towards the European Commission. It also stated that the system had a cost of €250,000.
The airline said that the fuel management system was not seeing use as a result of the industrial action "due to ALPA's unofficial instruction to its members not to cooperate with or use SkyBreathe at an individual pilot level". The airline commented that this was a clear breach of the obligations held by the pilots, as the airline added that it is incurring significant costs due to pilots being unwilling to make use of SkyBreathe.
KM Airlines called on the pilots' union to confirm its support for the fuel management system in writing and to rescind instructions or informal communication for pilots not to use the system.