Air Malta has made €50 million in payments since March 2024 and is still paying over €77,000 in salaries to 16 staffers each month , Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said.
Caruana provided the estimate in a reply to a parliamentary question by PN MP David Agius, who asked how many financial payments Air Malta had made since its final flight on March 30, 2024 and to whom.
Caruana replied that since March 2024, the company had paid out €50,448,287.
Air Malta operated its final flight on March 30, 2024, after the airline began downsizing in 2021, offering severance packages or public sector placements to laid-off workers, who retained their previous salary scales. The debt-ridden airline was replaced the next day with a new flag carrier KM Malta Airlines.
The new airline came into being after the European Commission refused to accept a government request for fresh state funding for Air Malta.
In a previous parliamentary question, Agius also asked Caruana how many workers remain on Air Malta’s books and to provide a month-by-month breakdown of salary payments from the airline’s final day of operations until the beginning of February this year.
Caruana said there are currently 16 individuals on the company’s books, with a monthly expense of €77,751.89.
Back in October, Agius said around €1.5 million had been paid in salaries to Air Malta staff since the final flight.