Malta International Airport said this afternoon that it was taking measures to avoid a repeat of yesterday's closure of the runway because of a power failure.

It said it suffered technical difficulties with its generators during the nationwide power outage.

The airport has a system of generators in place to allow it to provide emergency lighting in the event of a power cut. However, yesterday's nationwide blackout coincided with technical problems and MIA suspended apron and runway operations for 'not more than 25 minutes between 9:30 and 9:55. 

Malta Air Traffic Services opted to divert incoming flights to Catania and Palermo for approximately an hour and 45 minutes between 10:45 and 1:30am as a precautionary measure to ensure safety within the aerodrome.

The terminal remained operational at all times with acceptable limitations, MIA said.

The matter was resolved last night.

"We are implementing measures to avoid similar occurrences in the future and apologise for the inconvenience caused," MIA said.

Earlier, Alternattivaasked the government to explain how flights were diverted and delayed yesterday as a result of the power cut.

In a statement, the party asked how the generators at the airport had not worked properly.

It said that yesterday's nationwide outage showed that despite the rhetoric by the prime minister and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, the country was ill prepared for emergencies of this type.  

It asked whether maintenance of Enemalta's distribution network was adequate and whether a contingency plan existed when there was an extensive outage.

While the possibility of outages could not be prevented, the country could be better prepared for them, AD said.