www.maltastar.com
Pilots enraged by reports of Air Malta-Etihad non-poaching agreement
Two pilots had interviews with Etihad Airways cancelled
Kurt Farrugia Tue, 24 July 2007
The agreement for a wet lease of an Air Malta Airbus A320 to the United Arab Emirates airline Etihad could very well mean that Maltese pilots may no longer be able work for the UAE airlines, which offers far more better working conditions.
In what is being described by local pilots as a “non-poaching agreement”, Air Malta has agreed to lease its aircraft and a crew to man it (what is known as ‘wet lease’ in aviation terms) to Etihad. In exchange, Etihad has reportedly agreed not to poach pilots from Air Malta.
Interviews cancelled
At least two pilots had their interview for employment with Etihad cancelled since the wet lease agreement was finalised two weeks ago. They were not given any reason for the cancellation of their interview.
One Air Malta pilot will be moving to Etihad in the coming weeks, but only because he was accepted for the post days before the wet lease agreement came into force.
According to the website PPRuNe, the Professional Pilots’ Rumours Network, Air Malta finalised a non-poaching agreement as part of the wet lease of the A320.
But Malta’s national airline is denying the rumour claiming there is no such agreement with Etihad.
Exodus
Air Malta has been experiencing an exodus of pilots leaving the national airline to move on to other airlines offering better employment conditions. The reports that a possible non-poaching agreement may have been agreed with Etihad enraged Air Malta pilots.
"The working conditions being offered in Malta are far worse than what other airlines offer. The Maltese pilots are demanding better conditions or else they will have no option but to look for a better future working for other airlines," pilots told maltastar.com.
On 7 July maltastar.com revealed that the exodus of pilots from Air Malta is resulting in delays of flights leaving Malta. This has worsened since then and a particular flight to Moscow was delayed by 5 hours because of the shortage of pilots.
If Air Malta loses more pilots, the national airline risks a serious operational crisis.
“Instead of tackling the shortage of pilots by giving us better conditions, the management and government seem to be resorting to other tactics,” said the same pilots.