Update 2 ALPA suspends Industrial Action – statement below: Air Malta has said in a statement, that this afternoon ALPA unexpectedly instructed its members not to operate flights on the airline’s newest aircraft that joined the fleet last weekend.

According to the airline, it received this notice “just 22 minutes before a flight that had been scheduled to be operated by this aircraft.” Currently Air Malta flight KM 646 to Catania is delayed by nine hours.

Air Malta, in an update, has said that it has this afternoon filed a warrant of prohibitory injuction against the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) due to a breach of Collective Agreement signed just a few months ago.

Air Malta deemed the action “not only to be disproportionate (estimating that it will initially cost it over €180,000 in compensations and charges) but also in flagrant breach of the collective agreement signed only a few months ago.”

The airline said that the dispute relates to the absence of the Cockpit Voice Recorder erase button, which is one of the ways in which cockpit voice recordings are deleted once an uneventful flight is completed.

“This function, which is not present in the 9th aircraft has no relevance to the safety of flights, nor does it in any manner jeopardise the pilots’ privacy rights, however ALPA views its absence as a breach of the Collective Agreement,” Air Malta said.

The airline pointed out that it had already made arrangements with Airbus, “for this needless functionality to be reinstalled, in order to avoid qualms on such insignificant matters of interpretation.”

It added that this action by ALPA was also aimed to “disrupt the holiday plans of several Maltese and tourists who were travelling with their families on this long weekend.”

The airline stated that it “strongly condemns this action” and said that it will do everything in its power to protect its interests and those of its passengers and minimise disruptions.

It advised passengers to check www.airmalta.com and its social media channels for more information on its flight schedule changes.

 ALPA suspends Industrial Action

Air Malta has said that following the court’s decision to provisionally uphold Air Malta’s warrant of prohibitory injunction filed on Friday afternoon against ALPA due to a breach of Collective Agreement, the union has temporarily suspended the industrial action.

After the lifting of this action the airline said that it expects its flights to operate normally.

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