Severe delay caused by airport closure – Air Malta

Air Malta has said that the departure time of its scheduled flight from Paris Orly to Malta had been pushed from 6:15pm on Sunday to noon on Monday because of the closure of the airport due to night flying restrictions.

“The aircraft was scheduled to depart at 6:10pm but was delayed as a consequence of earlier delays and unfortunately could not take-off because the closure of the Paris Orly Airport,” read a statement from the airline.

The delay followed a number of other delays over the weekend, caused by fault with a wet-leased aircraft brought in by Air Malta to help it deal an increased number of flights. Air Malta is currently awaiting delivery of two new planes, which have been delayed by the supplier.

Air Malta said guests and crew were accommodated in nearby hotels and “taken care of”.

Moreover it said that as a consequence of the delay a further three flights were delayed on Monday including KM100 to London Heathrow, which was delayed by 45 minutes, KM612 to Rome Fiumicino (35 minutes) and KM306 to Munich (two hours).

Air Malta apologized for any inconvenience caused, adding that it had spared “no effort to minimize the inconvenience to passengers due to circumstances beyond its control”.