Air Malta has apologised to a woman who booked two seats for her and her cello, only to find that the instrument’s seat had been sold when she arrived at the gate.

Gabriella Swallow turned up for her flight from London Heathrow with her cello in tow for a performance in Malta, only to be told that the seat booked for her instrument had been sold.

Check-in staff told Ms Swallow to go the gate and try convince someone to give up their seat for a later flight, to no avail.

A spokesperson for Air Malta said the airline did its utmost to solve the problem immediately and identified an ex-Air Malta employee who was happy to give up his seat so that Ms Swallow and the cello could travel to Malta together in time for the event.

“We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused to Ms Swallow whilst travelling on KM101 from London Heathrow to Malta.

“This flight was overbooked and when she arrived at check-in at Heathrow only one seat was left,” the spokesperson said.

A blog on classical music picked up Ms Swallow's story and noted that tenor Joseph Calleja is Air Malta’s global ambassador, in a blog post titled ‘The tenor’s airline sold my cello’s seat.’