Air Malta is faced with a hefty bill of €109,000 after five cabin crew members refused to operate a slightly delayed Moscow flight from Malta on Thursday night because it would have exceeded their flying time limits by three minutes.

The decision meant a 16-hour delay for 163 passengers and delays on two other return flights to Manchester and Vienna.

And the situation might repeat itself, according to the president of the Union of Cabin Crew, David Sargent, who yesterday did not exclude that cabin crew would refuse to operate other flights if their time limitations were exceeded.

According to the airline, the crew refused to operate the flight from Malta after an 18-minute delay was announced, claiming that this would exceed their flight time limitations by three minutes.

Mr Sargent did not dispute the airline's claim but backed the crew's position. "They were exceeding their flying time limitation before leaving Malta. What if there was another delay from abroad? You have to draw a line," he said.

When questioned, Mr Sargent said he did not exclude a reoccurrence whenever the Moscow flight was delayed.

The European Union imposes an 11-hour limitation but this can be extended by two hours. The crew would have still been within this window but, at the end of 2008, the union had directed its members only to work an extra hour following a dispute with the airline about food allowances.

According to the union, it had been agreed that cabin crew would be given about €46 for flights under 12 hours and about €93 for day-long flights in food allowance but the airline was not respecting the agreement.

However, a spokesman for Air Malta said allowances and flight limitations were being discussed in industrial arbitration. According to the airline, the collective agreement stipulates that, until arbitration is concluded, no unilateral action is taken. It said the action was "highly inappropriate" because arbitration was underway and because of the "irresponsible nature of the claim".

The airline will be filing a judicial protest against both the union and the five cabin crew on the flight.

The flight to Manchester yesterday was delayed by four hours and that to Vienna suffered a three-hour delay.

Last October, an Air Malta flight from Sofia, with 123 passengers, was delayed after cabin crew argued they had exceeded flight time limitations. The plane had suffered a bird strike on landing in Sofia and had to be inspected.

Air Malta apologised to its clients for the delay, adding that it had done all that was possible to minimise the inconvenience.