Air Malta flight KM560/1 from Malta to Moscow was yesterday evening delayed by 10 hours 30 minutes due to the fact that the planned operating crew for this flight reported sick, the airline said in a statement.  

The next standby crew was called and the co-pilot reported sick after he was called in, leaving the airline with no option but to delay the flight and wait for a leased aircraft to be flown to Malta, Air Malta said.

Consequently, and to minimise disruptions to its customers, the airline has today wet-leased an Airbus A321 to operate KM 100/1 from Malta to London in order to facilitate the delayed flight to Moscow.

This flight was delayed by 2hours 55 minutes. A number of other flights were also delayed today with delays ranging from 20-40minutes.

KM 368/9 from Malta to Hamburg was delayed by one hour.

The estimated cost of this disruption is over €85,000, Air Malta said, apologizing for any inconvenience caused by circumstances beyond its control.