Updated at 11.30am with new flight departure times

Seven Air Malta flights were delayed between one and five hours today due to a technical problem on an aircraft.

The aircraft is currently being serviced by the airline's engineers.

A spokesman for the airline said the longest delay lasted five hours, impacting the flight to Rome (new departure time 1.30pm)

The other delays were on the Birmingham route (two hours, 20 minutes, new departure time 8.30pm), Milan (two hours, new departure time 3.05pm), Cardiff (one hour, 40 minutes, new departure time 6.45pm), Vienna (one hour, 30 minutes, new departure time 5.50pm), Zurich (one hour, 15 minutes, new departure time 3.40pm) and Catania, (one hour, 10 minutes, new departure time 9.45pm).

Four of the flights had to be operated by the aircraft that was found to have a problem, the other delays were a result of a ripple effect. The problem was detected at around 5am when the aircraft was still in Malta.

A spokesman for the airline apologised to customers for the inconvenience but said safety was a priority for the company.

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