The past few years have offered little in the way of economic when it comes to Malta having a national airline.

First, a few years back, the perennially financially troubled Air Malta folded and was declared bankrupt.  It was replaced by KM Malta Airlines, with the company being opened in November 2023 and then starting to operate flights on 31 March 2024, a few months later.

The new airline is owned solely by the government, and its very existence was backed up by an economic plan which was ultimately accepted by higher-ups in Europe, and which people were assured was realistic and viable.

Yet fast forward to the present day, and KM Malta Airlines is yet to file a single set of accounts since its inception - and worse still, it has continued to dodge questions over when exactly these accounts will be filed.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana had told Parliament that the airline had been granted an extension for the filing of the accounts.  However it appears that the airline has once again missed its deadline for filing these accounts.

Records at the Malta Business Registry show that the company has failed to file any audited accounts for any of the years that it has been operating in.

The airline did not respond to questions sent by The Malta Independent earlier in the summer, despite several reminders over the course of two weeks.

This lack of transparency - and even accountability - automatically gives rise to speculation: if the accounts aren't being published, then they must contain figures that may not be a good look, people are beginning to think.  Indeed, there is speculation that the airline is recording significant losses well into the millions which are much higher than projected.

The Nationalist Party, which had made various statements criticising this lack of transparency in the past, on Friday ratcheted up the pressure even more, as it insisted on the publication of the accounts, particularly in view of the fact that there is a significant amount of public money involved.

The Auditor General's Report on the Public Accounts for 2024 shows that the Government's equity in KM Malta Airlines increased to €350 million.

"Maltese workers, whose money is being invested in the national airline, therefore have a right to know whether these funds are being used in accordance with the approved plan and whether the financial targets are being met," the PN said.

Transparency is not an attack on the national airline. It is essential to protect the airline, its employees and the Maltese public's investment, the PN said.

Indeed, transparency is the most basic of principles in good governance.  Where public money is being spent, and more so, how it's being spent is something which the taxpayer simply has a right to know - and which the government and its entities have a duty to provide.

KM Malta Airlines was promised as a fresh start to replace an airline which was bereft with financial issues across several decades and several different administrations.  Yet, if the speculation is to be believed, it seems that new airline may well already be floundering at the first hurdles.

The airline has a duty and a responsibility to publish its accounts without further delay, and likewise it has the duty and responsibility to tell the public what its financial state is and what its projections for the future are.

Anything less would be another strike against good governance.