Almost 90% of Air Malta pilots voted in favour of industrial action on Friday, The Malta Independent has learnt.
On Friday afternoon, Air Malta said the airline pilots' association (ALPA) had instructed its members not to fly the airline's newest aircraft over an issue related to a cabin voice record deletion button. The announcement came just 22 minutes before the Airbus was scheduled to fly to Catania.
Air Malta explained that the new aircraft lacked a button that deleted voice recordings after uneventful flights. It said voice recordings were only accessed in cases of air accident investigations, accusing ALPA of resorting to "disproportionate" action which was also in breach of the recently signed collective agreement.
The airline said the recording deletion function has no relevance to the safety of flights, nor does it in any manner jeopardise the pilots' privacy rights.
Notwithstanding this, Air Malta said it had made arrangements with the aircraft company to install the feature.
Air Malta said on Friday that the initial delays would cost the company some €180,000, including on compensation fees and other charges. It said ALPA's action was also aimed to disrupt the holiday plans of several Maltese and tourists who were travelling with their families on this long weekend.
Later that day the airline went to court and filed a warrant of prohibitory injuction against ALPA.
Air Malta later said that following the court's decision to provisionally uphold the injunction request, ALPA had suspended its action.
Sources yesterday told The Malta Independent that 89% of pilots had voted in favour of the industrial action.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2KpH4ao
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