In a leader last month, this newspaper expressed the opinion that, in the ongoing efforts to save Air Malta, appeasing suppliers and unions should not come in the equation.

It made the comment after sources close to the national carrier said the airline had “to fly below the radar of the European Commission and other stakeholders, walking a tightrope between appeasing suppliers and unions, and making the airline viable enough to attract investors”.

Suppliers wanting to retain a contract usually go to the powers that be to pull a few strings here and there, hoping to find a weak link somewhere. This may still be happening but it appears the new minister responsible for the national air carrier, Konrad Mizzi, has taken good stock of the situation and appears determined to make the right commercial decisions. The resumption of certain services illogically dropped under the watch of his predecessor already bodes well.

So is the decision to make changes to the board of directors, though Dr Mizzi would do well to consider again engaging foreign expertise who were roped in a few years back.

The unions are likely to be a tougher nut to crack. In this country, they have been appeased by successive administrations and the Labour Party’s traditional ‘affinity’ with the country’s largest union does not help. Indeed, the ‘capitalist’ talk by Dr Mizzi may sound out of place, him coming from a ‘socialist’ party.

Thankfully, finally, it seems the delicate nature of the civil aviation industry is dictating the way forward, without overlooking Air Malta’s social responsibilities but, hopefully, doing away with appeasement and handing out jobs in return for votes.

Exploiting such appeasement, unions have, over the years, made it a practice to stamp their feet and rattle the sabre even on the most petty of labour relations issues. Very often they had it their way.

Speaking to MaltaToday last week, Dr Mizzi warned Air Malta could be closed if unions did not cooperate in the efforts to turn the airline around. He defended that stand earlier this week when he said the government would have no other option but to close the airline down if Air Malta failed to become profitable. He took the opportunity to call on unions to accept changes being proposed to turn the airline’s fortunes around.

He evidently wanted to make his point very clear: “I am sure common sense will prevail and everyone will be reasonable, otherwise the airline runs the risk of returning to insolvency and this time around taxpayers will not be able to foot the bill.”

When he spoke yesterday about talks with unions about an offer for a 20 per cent increase in wages over five years, Dr Mizzi appeared to be optimistic that an agreement would be reached. And so, too, hope all of us.

Along the years, Air Malta employees have always enjoyed good packages and generous perks, often making them the envy of other workers. More than anybody else they surely realise the airline has been going through a bad patch and that if they truly want to protect their livelihood they need to be more productive and more flexible.

Air Malta must stay but for that to be guaranteed all decisions must be commercially sound and unions work hand in hand with management.