Dozens of passengers booked on Fly Hermes, a new Maltese airline owned by a Sicilian family, were yesterday left stranded at Torino, Comiso and Malta airports.

Angry passengers told Times of Malta the flights had been cancelled without prior notice or justification. They were only informed on arrival at the airport.

“I was scheduled to fly from Torino to Malta, via Comiso, with Fly Hermes and was told that my flight was suddenly cancelled. When I asked what was going on, the staff at the airport told me they didn’t know,” a 45-year-old Maltese passenger said from Torino.

A fuming 30-year-old Italian woman said: “I had to fly to Comiso yesterday at 7.30am. When I arrived at the airport I was told that my flight was not on.

“I went to Skyparks, where Fly Hermes has its offices, and an official told me that the flight had been cancelled and he didn’t know why. He told me that I could apply for a refund.”

When I asked what was going on airport staff told me they didn’t know

When Times of Malta called the office, an official called Francesco confirmed that all the company’s flights for the next two weeks had been cancelled.

However, when asked to explain he said: “I don’t know. You have to ask the person responsible for the airline.”

When Times of Malta asked to speak to his boss, Paolo Di Grandi, Franceso said that he was not there.

“Oh, so you are a journalist and not a passenger,” he said in broken English. “Sorry, then you are wasting my time,” he said and terminated the call abruptly.

Transport Malta said its Civil Aviation Directorate had not received any complaints from passengers about Fly Hermes.

The operator had been issued with a valid Air Operator’s certificate and licence, before which due diligence was performed, TM said, though failing to say if it was taking action on the case.

Screenshot of the company’s website.

Fly Hermes is criticised in Italian media

The authority reminded passengers of their rights in the event of flight cancellation.

The Italian media has been bashing the company, describing it as Maltese.

Hermes Aviation Ltd – which operates under the slogan “Happy to be up there” – started daily Malta-Comiso-Torino-Palermo-Malta flights on December 15.

The company is owned by members of the Sicilian Di Grandi family and companies controlled by them, using a wet-leased B737-400 aircraft.

However, according to the Italian media, Fly Hermes encountered difficulties from its first flights, with La Stampa reporting that passengers had to wait for eight hours to catch their flights on December 19, while others had to wait 24 hours for the next flight as their original booking had been cancelled. According to La Stampa, Fly Hermes was even finding it difficult to pay for the refuelling of its aircraft.

Yesterday, Italian aviation website ItaliaVola reported that Fly Hermes would axe its four-week-old Palermo-Turin service from January 12 while its Comiso-Malta and Comiso-Torino trips would be reduced by half. According to ItaliaVola, “the routes have been hit by the post-Christmas lull in demand”.