Airlines, and not the airport, are responsible for making sure that passengers board the right plane, Malta International Airport has told The Malta Independent.
This newsroom sent questions to MIA after a Ryanair flight on Wednesday turned back after three passengers boarded an airport bus which took them to a different flight instead of walking directly to the Ryanair plane a few metres outside the departure gate. The Eindhoven bound Ryanair aircraft, carrying their luggage, departed without them and returned after circling in the air for around an hour. Ryanair gave a totally different explanation and insisted this was a baggage loading error by the handling agent, Aviaserve.
When contacted again on the incident, MIA reiterated its version of events. “After having presented themselves at the boarding gate, three passengers who were meant to board a Ryanair flight accidentally found themselves on the wrong bus to an Air Malta flight. MIA plans its operations carefully to avoid passenger confusion and in fact had assigned Gate 8 as a holding gate between Air Malta’s flight (boarding at Gate 7) and the Ryanair flight (boarding at Gate 9). Moreover, the Ryanair flight was allocated a walk-in stand whilst Air Malta’s passengers were being coached to the aircraft.
“The passengers’ luggage was taken on board the correct aircraft. Since the passengers had already boarded through the gate, there was no discrepancy registered between the checked-in baggage and the respective passengers allowed to board,” an MIA spokesperson said.
A source said the fact that passengers managed to board the wrong bus and ended up on the wrong aircraft could amount to a safety or security risk. This latest incident follows another, much more serious one back in June when two Italian tourists who were going to miss their flight managed to force open a security door and tried to dash onto the apron before being stopped by security personnel.
The source said that, had there been an EU compliance monitoring inspection, which are carried out in accordance with EU directives, MIA could have lost what in the industry is called "one-stop security" status. In other words, this would mean that every transfer passenger, luggage or cargo would have to be rescreened in the next EU airport before being allowed in or out of Europe.
However, the MIA spokesperson insisted that “at no point were any passengers at risk due to the fact that checked-in baggage, carry-on baggage and passengers are all screened before they reach the boarding gate.”
MIA also insisted that airlines were responsible for making sure that their passengers reached the right aircraft. “According to the relevant EC regulations, it is up to the airline and its representative to supervise their passengers while they are being escorted or transported from the boarding gate at the terminal to the aircraft. This is a matter of the ground handling agents working diligently with the airlines and Malta International Airport to ensure passengers are guided at all times. We are looking into this matter with the respective stakeholders in order to mitigate such situations in the future.”
Questions sent to the Aviation Security Malta – the government regulator – remained unanswered.