The European Commission has rejected the Maltese government’s request to inject 290 million euros into Air Malta, which has been facing a difficult economic situation since 2020 and will be dissolved at the end of 2023. A new national airline should therefore see the light of day.
The company had already received similar aid in 2016, and the EU’s rescue and restructuring regulations state that it can only be granted once in a ten-year period.
As reported in the following article, in mid-2022 it became known that the Maltese government was considering dissolving Air Malta and transferring the profitable assets to a new state-owned airline.
This scenario is reminiscent of the transformation of Alitalia into ITA Airways, completed in 2021. In fact, the Italian government had then reached an agreement with the European Commission to replace its flagship with a new brand that took their assets.
