Tuesday, 13th January 2009 - 14:40CET
Minor technical fault forces Air Malta's flight return
An Air Malta flight to Rome had to return to Malta this morning because of a minor technical fault, an airline spokesman confirmed.
He said the passengers were never in any danger.
The plane took off on schedule shortly before 6 a.m. and was meant to make a stop-over at Reggio Calabria but the pilot decided to return to Malta as a safety precaution when the fault was detected.
Although the fault was rectified "within five minutes" the flight could not take off again for three hours because bad weather had closed Reggio Calabria airport, the spokesman said.
The plane left once more at 9.30 a.m.
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Comments
Do you know if there are satisfactory repair facilities in other airports?
Don't you think that the pilots would choose to land at the nearest airport if coming back means that the passengers will be exposed to more risk?
scalleja
AirMalta never made any losses. It only started making losses after your EFApn appointed chairman went against all advise and bought the MD aircraft which were not suitable for AirMalta so much so that they even had trouble chartering and selling them to other airlines.
That was Maltese peoples taxes and AirMalta profits squandered by your EFApn appointed chairman callejja.
Also, A319's are not used for long-haul flights. they do not have the range nor the passenger capacity to be feasible.
The safety of the passengers has always been your first and foremost concern.
Don't take any notice of those who criticize AirMalta simply because it is AirMalta and an extremely successful project of a Labour Government.
May God keep his hands upon AirMalta.
I doubt it was and A319 that took you from London Heathrow to Dulles Airport Washington, as th A319 simply doesn't have the range. It's more likely that it was a Boing 777 or Airbus A330.
Anyway, it is always the safety of passengers that comes first, no matter the cost...something which low-cost carriers sometimes don't take so seriously....would love to know what the technical fault was though....
I suspected that something was wrong when we were taken by coach to the Airbus A319 parked in the middle of nowhere instead of directly into the aircraft from the gate. My suspicion was confirmed as I sat in the Airbus for more than an hour before we took off. Eventually, the flight had no problems and we arrived safely in Washington.
I did not check The Times of London, but I doubt that such a technical fault and delay would have been reported. I guess that in large cities, newspapers would need a supplement to report such features.
When do you want Airmalta to be in the news? When something drastic happens like What happenned in Spain a few months ago, or when something like this happenned. I congratulte the pilot for the decision taken. Safety First, even though this decision costs Airmalta a lot of money. The life of the passengers has no price.
Welldone