Air Malta yesterday refuted media reports which stated that one of its aircraft landed safely after declaring an emergency. The airline said that at no point in time did the flight commander declare an emergency. Furthermore, when asked by the Air Traffic Control whether he needed assistance on landing, the commander categorically stated that no assistance was required, since the landing would have been a routine one.

The aircraft was operating a multi-sector flight and was on its first leg en-route from Malta to Catania. On arrival in Catania the crew reported an undercarriage crew awareness alert, and as a precaution, the crew were instructed to return the aircraft to base in Malta for inspection. Air Malta sent a relief aircraft to Catania to operate the remaining flights and minimise disruptions.

As a precautionary measure, the ferry flight back to Malta was operated with its undercarriage down. This ferry flight operated according to standard operating procedures for such circumstances.