Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi again insisted that Air Malta disruptions were few despite more than 10 flights being cancelled or delayed over the weekend.

Fielding questions from journalists on Wednesday afternoon, Dr Mizzi reiterated that compared with the number of flights the airline operated, the ones affected were a few.

Pressed by the Times of Malta to say how he could state this when, between Friday and Sunday last week, no fewer than 10 flights were impacted, with hundreds of passengers stuck in airports for hours on end, the minister said that while he apologised to passengers, the issue was temporary.

He went on to say that the problems were a result of the airline’s growth, pointing out that the delays and cancellations were the result of increased operations.

Asked whether he, therefore, believed that such issues were inevitable in light of such increase, the minister said that these were “things that happen”.

“I won’t mention other airlines but I did get the statistics of other airlines and we compare well and airlines do have cancellations when there are technical difficulties,” Dr Mizzi went on.

He also added that more pilots would be employed by the airline in the coming months to help alleviate the pressures of increased schedules.