Air Malta showed a “grave lack of respect” on Friday, according to passengers on board a grounded flight, giving scant information on their re-routing and arrangements.

Passengers were meant to fly out of Paris’s Orly Airport to London on Friday evening and boarded their plane at 6.15pm. The engines were started as scheduled, and the aircraft moved towards the runway. However, it rolled to a halt shortly after.

“We were stranded there for about 30 minutes, assuming that the pilot was awaiting clearance. But then an announcement was made that technical problems had cropped up and the plane had to return to its parking slot,” one passenger said.

Passengers said they were instructed to remain seated until the problem could be resolved.

We were stranded there for 30 minutes, assuming the pilot was awaiting clearance

After two hours waiting on the plane, the passengers were told to disembark and go to the baggage reclaim area.

After another 30 minutes, passengers said they were told that luggage was still on the plane and were asked to go to the departure hall to board the aircraft. “After 15 minutes, we were told that the plane could not take off and were asked to collect our luggage. We were told we would be provided with a snack at a hotel, where we would stay for the night,” the passengers said, adding that at this point it was nearly midnight.

The passengers were given no indication of when they would leave France.

The next morning, the passengers were informed their flight was scheduled for 2pm, but after lunch they were informed a bus would pick them at 2pm and their flight would be at 8pm. No explanation was given for the further delay.

They added that no amount of compensation would be enough to cover the uncertainty, tension and missed commitments that the delay had caused.

In a statement, the airline said yesterday its flight schedule had returned to normal after almost two days of turmoil.