An Air Malta flight to Gatwick was delayed by 14 hours on Saturday because of operational reasons, the airline said.

Air Malta issued a statement at 3.30pm, nearly seven hours after the flight was supposed to depart. The flight, KM116, was due to leave at 8.40am but is now scheduled for 10.10pm.

In its statement, Air Malta said the flight was delayed today due to operational reasons.

Air Malta said the guests were accommodated in nearby hotels and offered refreshments in line with the delay’s duration. The flight was scheduled to be operated by a wet leased aircraft which was brought in to help with the increased flight schedule currently being operated by the airline.

The short-term wet lease of this aircraft was necessary due to the fact that the delivery of the 9th Aircraft was delayed by the leasing company, the airline said. Such wet lease is neccessary until the two new aircraft secured by Air Malta will be delivered by the suppliers shortly.

Wet leasing aircraft is an industry standard when dealing with increased operational requirements and unexpected aircraft delays and is done by all international airlines on a regular basis, the airline said.

Other flights maybe impacted as a consequence of this delay, it added.

Passengers were already on board when the flight was delayed. They were taken back to the terminal building. Their luggage was removed from the hold.

This was the same aircraft that was involved in two other delays in the past 24 hours. One of them involved a flight to Linate in Milan on Friday afternoon, the other to Catania a few hours later.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party expressed solidarity with the stranded passengers, blaming the delays on the decision taken to lease an aircraft from Lithuania "in haste and without logistical coordination with the company involved".

The aircraft was leased from Getjet Airlines, and painted white.

The PN agreed the national airline should be strengthened, but planning needs to be carried out in a professional manner so as not to hit the airline's operations and reputation, the statement, saigned by deputy leader Robert Arrigo, said.