Birdstrike grounds Air Malta plane in Reggio

A flock of birds grounded an Air Malta plane in Reggio yesterday morning, stranding passengers in the small Italian airport for some eight hours and disrupting plans.

The plane, with some 130 passengers on board, was meant to continue flying to Rome and scheduled to land at 10.30 a.m. But the Airbus was struck by a flock of birds as it landed in the southern Italian city, making it impossible to continue with its journey before a thorough inspection was carried out.

According to the airline, and to passengers who were on the plane, the strike did not affect the landing.

A relief plane carrying Air Malta engineers flew to Reggio yesterday afternoon, picking up the stranded passengers and taking them to their destination. When contacted, Brian Bartolo, Air Malta's general manager marketing and product, said Reggio airport did not have Airbus engineers who could have carried out the inspection.

Asked why it had taken so long to send a plane, stranding passengers for hours, Mr Bartolo said the airline was operating at full capacity during the summer months. Five other Air Malta flights were delayed by between an hour and three-and-a-half hours due to the incident.

Mr Bartolo said that passengers who had a connection flight were given priority and sent to Rome on other airlines.

But a passenger who was travelling on flight KM612 said not all those who had a connection were put on another flight. The woman, who did not want to be named, said two Alitalia flights to Rome left Reggio during the time they were stranded there and passengers wondered why they had not been flown to their destination on those flights.

She complained that the care given to the stranded passengers was less than stellar. "We were first put in a waiting room, with just toilets, and not allowed to roam around the airport. Although we were given some water and sandwiches, there was not even enough for everyone," she said.

She added that passengers complained and were finally allowed to the other parts of the airport, from where they could buy food and drinks out of their own pockets.

Passengers, she said, were disconcerted that the Air Malta office in Reggio was closed for holidays and there was no representative of the airline to take care of the stranded passengers.

A local football team, the Tar-xien Rainbows, was also on board the plane on its way to play two friendly football matches in Italy. The first match, planned for yesterday evening against Cassino Calcio, had to be postponed to today after the team did not make it to the destination in time.

"There were no problems and we felt nothing unusual when we landed," team coach Noel Coleiro said.

He described Reggio airport as very small, with nowhere to eat or drink, although Air Malta did offer the stranded passengers sandwiches and drinks.

Mr Coleiro said the delay disrupted the team's schedule, even though yesterday's game was postponed to today. "We wanted to play a game at the beginning of the trip and another at the end so that we would have time to train in between," he said.

A birdstrike last October stranded 123 passengers in Sofia while an Air Malta plane flying to Istanbul had to turn back last month because of a minor fault in the air-conditioning system's power supply.