Technical hitch and storm delay Rome flight

An Air Malta plane flying to Rome was forced to return to Luqa yesterday because of a minor technical fault in one of its navigational instruments. The plane took off shortly before 6 a.m. and the pilot decided to turn back as a safety precaution when the fault was detected. The plane left again at 9.30 a.m.

A spokesman for the airline said the passengers were never in any danger and the fault was rectified "within five minutes". Nevertheless, the plane could not take off again immediately. It had to sit on the ground for three hours because of bad weather in Rome, he said.