KM Malta struggling as retired Air Malta employees share €61 million

Less than a year since its launch, Malta’s newly state-owned airline KM Malta Airlines is reportedly already in the red, losing millions since its inception last March.

Although just a few months ago, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana tried to give the impression that the new airline was achieving good results, sources at the airline told The Shift that this was far from the truth.

Sources have told The Shift that while KM Airlines has fewer employees and has cut on money-losing routes, the airline is still struggling to make ends meet and has already accumulated millions in losses.

They said the Air Malta problems, particularly its excesses and mismanagement, are still ingrained in the new airline, and KM Malta is already on the same path as its predecessor.

So far, KM Malta Airlines Chairman David Curmi and his Minister Clyde Caruana are refusing to release financial data on the airline’s performance.

Caruana is also refusing to publish the new engagement contract he gave Curmi – the same CEO who crashed Air Malta in its final years.

According to sources, Curmi is still earning some €22,000 a month and continues to award lucrative consultancy contracts to the same companies he used to engage at Air Malta.

This was also confirmed in parliament recently, with Minister Caruana submitting a list of new consultants, including Knighthood Global Ltd, paid millions by Air Malta for dismal results.

KM Malta’s underperformance also complicates the government’s chances of finding a partner to buy 35% of the new airline as planned.

Last October, the Finance Minister announced the government’s intention to partially privatise the new airline. While he said this would be done “as soon as possible,” The Shift is informed that the government has found no buyer.

Sources said no businessmen or group would buy a share in an already ailing small airline without having the majority shareholding to try to turn it around, especially when the majority shareholder is the Maltese government.

Meanwhile, millions of taxpayers’ money continue to be forked out for Air Malta to settle pending problems. Its board, led by Philip von Brockdorff, a government emissary, is struggling to solve the issues.

According to information given in parliament, 350 former Air Malta employees who opted to take the lucrative government early retirement schemes have cost taxpayers €61 million.

The government’s schemes to shed hundreds of extra employees were paid through state funds. At the same time, hundreds of other Air Malta employees who did not accept to retire were absorbed into public sector jobs, costing hundreds of millions in wages until they reached pensionable age.

KM Malta Airlines currently employs some 300 staff and is managed by the same managers who managed the defunct Air Malta.