New national airline imposes four-year wage freeze

Aqra bil-Malti

All KM Malta Airlines employees, including former Air Malta pilots and cabin crew, will not see an increase in their basic wages for at least the next four years.

Contracts seen by The Shift show that, apart from implementing a mandatory wage freeze (adjusted only for the cost of living), the government has significantly changed the terms for all employees of the airline that replaced Air Malta. The new conditions resemble those of low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet.

As a result, employees at KM Malta will now be expected to work longer hours and receive lower take-home pay compared to their previous roles at Air Malta.

The new contracts state that employees of the ‘new’ airline will have their basic salary fixed for the next 48 months – until April 2028 – and won’t be able to take a higher basic pay, even if their union negotiates a new collective agreement.

Meanwhile, KM Malta Airlines, wholly owned by the government, has not recognised any unions that used to represent Air Malta employees, and no collective agreement exists.

Significant changes were also made in the number of salary scales for all employees, making it harder and longer to move from one salary scale to another.

Moreover, benefits enjoyed by former Air Malta employees, such as retirement schemes, long service bonuses, additional vacation leave tied to years of service, and sick leave carryover, have been removed.

The new airline has also removed all transport facilities that Air Malta used to provide to pilots and cabin crew.

Pilots, flight attendants, and other airline staff will now be required to commute to their workplace using their own transport, regardless of their flight times. The new airline will provide free parking facilities for crew members.

Another change is the crew commissions, which are now capped at just 10%, far lower than those of Air Malta. The commission is calculated based on how much on-board food and beverages the cabin crew manage to sell aboard a KM Malta flights.

KM Malta employees who spoke to The Shift on condition of anonymity complained about how the government was treating them but acknowledged that Air Malta had no future.

They noted that they were now paying the price for all the years of mismanagement while the top executives, such as Chairman David Curmi, were kept on.

The employees also expressed disappointment with their unions, particularly the General Workers Union, saying they felt they were “sold” and “betrayed”.

Air Malta folded at the end of March after years of incurring heavy losses.

The government had tried to obtain a new state aid package to keep the airline going through Finance Minister Clyde Caruana and Chairman David Curmi. The European Commissioners turned down the proposal.

It is estimated that the cosmetic change from Air Malta to KM Malta Airlines has already cost taxpayers approximately €300 million, but the government has refused to disclose its spend.