Finance Minister to fly to Brussels on Friday for state aid talks for Air Malta

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana will be heading to Brussels in order to discuss with the European Commission the possibility to give State Aid to Air Malta, he confirmed on Tuesday.

The struggling airline is looking to get around €290 million in government assistance. Last Monday, the Government sent a document to the European Commission requesting permission to give state aid to the airline.

Caruana said earlier this month that Air Malta is experiencing losses of over €170,000 a day just to keep aircraft operations going.

He warned that if the European Commission does not allow state aid, the airline would only have “a few weeks to live” before running out of money.

“As I already confirmed, the plan so that we can provide state aid has been given to European Commission,” Caruana said.

“Next Friday I will be in Brussels where I will have a number of talks with the Commissioners, and I will also be meeting with the commissioner that deals with these issues.”

The already ailing airline has been seeking to rejuvenate itself but suffered yet another backlash due to the Covid-19 pandemic.