Italian national carrier Alitalia has no money to invest in Air Malta and needs investment itself, Italian unions representing Alitalia staff told the Times of Malta.
A day after a 24-hour strike on Thursday by Alitalia’s pilots and cabin crew against proposals to cut costs at the expense of employees grounded some 200 flights, a spokesman for the pilots’ union Anpac said although they were informed about ongoing negotiations with the Maltese government on the acquisition of Air Malta, no details had been made available yet.
“Officially, we don’t know anything although we heard many things in the corridors,” an Anpac spokesman said.
“What is for sure is that Alitalia is definitely not in a position to fork out any money for Air Malta. The Italian carrier is in the red and it needs investment itself and not to invest in other airlines. There is no money available,” the spokesman said.
Insisting that the negotiations on the possible takeover of Air Malta was “an idea of Etihad in order to consolidate its position in the airline industry”, the spokesman said although the Abu Dhabi airline was supposed to be a minority shareholder in Alitalia, in reality, it called all the shots.
Strategically, Air Malta makes sense for Etihad’s strategy to expand its network further south
“Since it bought a 49 per cent stake in Alitalia, Etihad takes all the decisions. It appointed the CEO and issues all the instructions to management. The autonomy of Alitalia does not exist and this is what will happen to Air Malta if the deal with the Maltese government is secured,” the spokesman said.
Reflecting Anpac’s comments, other main unions, Anpav, representing cabin crew, and USB, representing ground staff, said although Air Malta might make strategic sense for Alitalia, the deal did not appear to be a priority for the Italian airline.
“Air Malta has no real commercial value for Alitalia as it is very small. However, strategically, Air Malta makes sense for Etihad’s strategy to expand its network further south,” a member of Anpav’s executive said.
Despite that Alitalia – the strategic partner chosen by the government – was saved from bankruptcy a few years ago by Etihad and still seems to be in quite bad financial shape, the Maltese government on Thursday confirmed that it was still in talks to sell a 49 per cent stake in Air Malta to the Italian airline.
In an e-mail sent to Alitalia staff, CEO Cramer Ball warned that the strike would have massive financial repercussions for the carrier which was currently losing €500,000 a day.
Mr Ball’s comments are the latest following an earlier statement by Alitalia chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo who described the ongoing negotiations with the Maltese government as “sub-zero risk”.
According to Mr Montezemolo, the acquisition of Air Malta would serve very well the interests of the Italian carrier to consolidate its operations in the south of Italy and Northern Africa.
He also said that Alitalia would not fork out a euro for Air Malta.
Although according to a memorandum of understanding, the deal between the Maltese government and Alitalia had to be wrapped up by the end of last month, nothing has materialised yet.
The government is insisting that it will only accept a deal which safeguards the interests of Air Malta and the Maltese tourism industry at large.