Yet more Air Malta flights have been cancelled or delayed as the disarray at the national carrier persisted.
Air Malta announced that a flight from Frankfurt yesterday and another to Paris Charles De Gaulle airport today were both cancelled “due to operational restrictions and a strike in Italy”.
Moreover, flights to Palermo and Catania yesterday were delayed while two flights today to Paris Orly were merged.
No further details were provided and Air Malta did not respond to a request by Times of Malta for more information on the cause behind the cancellations.
To add to the airline’s woes, air Malta said on Friday evening that one of its aircraft had been hit by a contractor’s catering truck at Malta International Airport. The damage was still being assessed by the time of writing.
Aviation industry sources said the airline was looking into leasing a wide-bodied Airbus aircraft to salvage Saturday's scheduled Paris flights.
The latest disruptions came just days after Air Malta announced, on Wednesday, the cancellation of a London Southend flight scheduled for yesterday.
Three further flights were cancelled last weekend while another 13 from airports around Europe had to be rescheduled.
Chief commercial officer Paul Sies made an unprecedented public announcement through social media on Saturday, asking companies through LinkedIn to provide a plane to the national airline.
It takes years to build a reputation and just a few minutes to ruin it
One passenger booked on the cancelled flight to London Southend yesterday said Air Malta’s customer services had failed to provide a suitable alternative despite a day of phone calls, which were either kept on hold or failed to get through to the jam-packed call centre.
The passenger said they had been forced to book an alternative flight through another airline the next day, as well as booking a hotel in Malta for the night, and had not been informed of any compensation by the airline.
“Having a flight cancelled is bad enough but customer services made the problem 10 times worse,” the passenger said.
Under EU law, passengers on short-haul flights are entitled to compensation of €250 in the case of cancelled flights, apart from potential reimbursements and costs. The compensation, which also applies to delays longer than three hours, rises for different destinations.
Times of Malta reported earlier this week that the difficult situation was also taking its toll on the airline’s staff, with many complaining of reaching their limit.
“Is anybody mentioning the staff shortage whenever our bosses issue press releases?” a cabin staff member asked.
“We are rostered to the legal limit month after month now,” he complained in internal KM communications.
“In the past these were just unexpected events, nowadays they are part of our timetable. It takes years to build a reputation and just a few minutes to ruin it,” another staff member said.