Around 150 Elderly Maltese People Left Stranded In Lourdes After Air Malta Delays Flight ‘Due To Bird Strike’
A large group of around 150 elderly Maltese people are currently stranded at the Lourdes/Tarbes (LDE) Airport in France.
This comes after Air Malta had no choice but to cancel their flight late last night due to a bird strike which caused damage to the aircraft. However, passengers are feeling the delay.
“We’ve been at the airport since 10pm last night, and in the middle of the night, we were told we won’t be flying back home,” an elderly Maltese man stranded at the airport told Lovin Malta.
“All hotels are full and we need to wait until 6pm tonight before we can even know whether we’ll be able to fly back home.”
The group is almost fully comprised of elderly people, with some of them missing their scheduled medication due to their luggages being checked in prior to the cancellation.
A few moments ago, Air Malta issued a statement confirming the cancellation.
“Air Malta can confirm that one of its charter flights, KM7446, from Malta to Lourdes encountered a bird strike on landing in Lourdes in the early hours of 18th July,” Air Malta said.
“All passengers were disembarked safely. Subsequently, KM7447 from Lourdes to Malta due to depart on 18th July at 1.40am local time has been delayed.”
“The necessary inspections are currently being carried out by the technical support team prior to the aircraft departing Lourdes.”
“Due to this event and the newly introduced extra flights between Malta and Palermo to assist passengers affected by the Catania Airport incident, Air Malta expects disruption to its flight schedules for the remainder of today.”
Air Malta also extended an apology for any inconvenience caused by this event.
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