Air Malta has been forced to lease an aircraft complete with crew after pilots reported sick, delaying a number of flights.

It said that flight KM560/1 from Malta to Moscow on Tuesday evening was delayed by 10 hours 30 minutes after the crew reported sick.

The next standby crew was called but the co-pilot reported sick after he was called in further delaying the flight until alternative arrangements were made. 

In order to minimise disruptions, the airline on Wednesday morning wet-leased an Airbus A321 to operate its flight to London. This flight was delayed by 2 hours 55 minutes.

A number of other flights were also delayed with delays ranging from 20-40minutes. A flight to Hamburg was delayed by one hour.

The airline said it estimated cost of this disruption is over €85,000.

In September Air Malta was forced to cancel a flight to Paris after its pilots called in sick.