Almost all Air Malta pilots who called in sick on Tuesday were certified unfit to fly, but a handful were not home when a company doctor visited, sources told Times of Malta yesterday.

Air Malta would not be drawn into saying how many were ill, saying this information was “an internal, human resources matter”.

Had Alpa chosen to encourage their healthy members to help crew flights, then fewer passengers would have been disrupted

Sources said the pilots suffered common ailments such as a cold and diarrhoea.

The situation at the airport yesterday returned to normal after Tuesday’s disruption, which affected more than 2,000 passengers.

The airline said all flights had operated as planned as the pilots due to work had carried out their duties “with their normal professionalism and commitment to providing safe and reliable service to our customers”.

The airline did not reply when asked to react to an accusation by airline pilots’ association president Dominic Azzopardi, who claimed it was using pilots to cover up its mistakes and missed financial targets.

Captain Azzopardi told Times of Malta he would not allow this episode to be used to hide Air Malta management’s inefficiency.

He added that he “seriously doubted” the number of pilots who reported sick on Tuesday was as high as the airline had claimed. Air Malta confirmed the total was actually 17 not 25, as others have been on sick leave for months for different ailments such as back problems or a dislocated shoulder.

It said return flights Milan and Benghazi were cancelled while the flight to and from Newcastle on Tuesday was reinstated after the airline leased a plane to cover another chartered flight.

It reiterated that the disruption had cost €500,000 “at a time when the airline was struggling to break even”.

The pilots’ association said that while it understood the inconvenience to passengers, this was the result of “an accumulation of circumstances over which it had no control”.

The airline was assigning pilots in an non-viable way that was normally used only in emergencies. Mr Azzopardi said that due to the staff shortage, some pilots who were supposed to be on stand-by were used for flights, affecting the rest of the roster.

“We will not allow pilots to be used to hide the management’s mistakes, squandering and inefficiency,” Alpa said in its statement.

The airline said that only the Alpa executive committee and the individual pilots knew “what control each had over the unfortunate spike in crew sickness”.

“Had Alpa chosen to encourage their healthy members to help crew flights, then fewer passengers would have been disrupted,” the airline said in its statement.

It said it remained committed to developing a positive working environment with its pilots and their association.