On March 29, a planeload of people will arrive in Malta from a non-EU country – despite having departed three hours earlier from an EU member state. 

This 'Cinderella flight’ from Heathrow to Malta International Airport is one of 10 identified by the UK Independent that will depart from a British airport on the eve of Brexit and land after the split has occurred.

At the stroke of midnight on the night of March 28, these flights will cease to be intra-EU services under the ‘open skies agreement’ and become flights from outside the union.

This will also mean that British passengers will board flights as EU citizens, but when they arrive at their destination, they could be classed as third-country nationals.

Read: Malta to offer British tourists 'same conditions' after Brexit - Tourism Minister

The flights will leave from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Doncaster and Liverpool and land in Athens, Stockholm, Budapest, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Bucharest, Vilnius.

“The warmest welcome, in terms of temperature at least, is likely to be in Malta, where an Airbus belonging to Air Malta arrives from Heathrow at 11.40pm GMT,” the Independent reports.

It adds that the UK government’s line is that, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, aviation will continue as normal between the UK and EU.

The EU and UK have not yet agreed on Brexit terms, including an air transport agreement.

When contacted, a spokeswoman for the Malta International Airport said that no new protocol would need to be in place, as arrivals from the UK would still land in the non-Schengen area.

Passengers will then have to queue at the respective lines – EU or non-EU - for immigration check and passport control.