Passengers on two Air Malta flights from the UK were stranded on grounded aircraft for several hours early yesterday morning after their flights were redirected to Catania due to fog over Malta.

The flights from London and Birmingham were meant to arrive shortly after midnight. An Air Malta spokesman said the aircraft landed in Catania around 2.30am. Passengers were forced to remain on the planes, as Catania Airport does not open until 4.30am and the terminal for flights from outside the Schengen area stays closed until 8am.

The flight from Birmingham landed in Malta at about 6am and the one from London about four hours later.

The spokesman said the delay on the London flight was compounded by a required crew change, since the original crew was “out of hours”. Under EU regulations, crews cannot work more than 11 consecutive hours on night-time duty.

Additional crew were flown to Catania as replacements on a direct flight from Malta. The airline apologised for any inconvenience , which it said was due to circumstances beyond its control.

A Malta International Airport spokeswoman said the instrument landing system at the airport was certified to Category I, covering a minimum visibility of about 550 metres. If visibility is lower, as on Tuesday night, aircraft are unable to land. The spokeswoman said no further delays had been caused by the poor visibility on Tuesday night.