Two Air Malta flights were delayed this morning after their pilots and cabin crew ended up stuck in morning rush hour traffic. 

Flights KM 306 to Munich and KM394 to Amsterdam were both late in getting off the ground, with pilots apologising to passengers patiently waiting for their flight to take off. 

An Air Malta spokesman apologised to passengers for the inconvenience. Photo: Darrin Zammit LupiAn Air Malta spokesman apologised to passengers for the inconvenience. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

A number of passengers were also late for their flight and were allowed aboard, an Air Malta spokesman said. 

"We apologise to passengers for the delays, which unfortunately were down to circumstances out of our control," the spokesman said, adding that the airline was closely monitoring the situation to ensure road traffic did not affect any further flights. 

"Thankfully, in this case the delays did not have a knock-on effect on later flights," the spokesman said. 

Airline pilots and cabin crew are picked up and taken to the airport by transport provided by the carriers they are employed by, and do not drive themselves to the airport.

While the Amsterdam-bound flight was delayed by 21 minutes, passengers en route to Munich got an extra 45 minutes in Malta due to the delay.

A passenger on board the Munich flight chuckled as he told Times of Malta about the delay. 

"The pilot apologised to passengers in both Maltese and English. It made for a change from the usual reasons for delays," they said.

Local roads have been choked up with traffic every morning since schools opened their gates for a new academic year last week, with the Transport Ministry's plan of deploying traffic police at major junctions having seemingly little effect on traffic flows. 

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