Flights were diverted and landings aborted on Monday night and into Tuesday, as gale-force winds from Storm Harry buffeted the runway at Malta International Airport.
Four inbound flights from Bucharest, Rome, Vilnius and Milan were diverted to Italian airports, while videos shared online captured scenes of turbulent landings – and landings that were abandoned altogether.
Ryanair flight FR9257 from Bucharest, originally scheduled to arrive in Malta at 12.55am on Tuesday morning, was diverted to Bari, Italy, after two failed landing attempts. The flight was rescheduled to arrive at 11.30am.
The Bucharest arrival was not the only flight to be diverted; Ryanair flight FR 7304 from Vilnius, originally scheduled to arrive at 9am, was sent to Rome Fiumicino, before landing at 1.40pm.
A flight from Trieste (FR 3695) by the same operator, scheduled to arrive at 10.55am, was re-routed to Bari. Its arrival time was updated to 2.39pm at the time of writing.
Ryanair flight FR 5970 from Milan, originally scheduled to land at 12.55pm, was diverted to Lamezia, Italy, due to strong winds.
Meanwhile, a video shared on Facebook shows the moment a Ryanair plane was forced to abandon a landing attempt as strong winds buffeted the runway at Malta International Airport. It is not immediately clear which flight featured in the video.
And on Instagram, video stories shared by Alina Dely described her flight to Malta as “pure turbulence”, with footage showing passengers applauding the flight crew as the plane touched down on its second attempt.
Speaking to Times of Malta, Dely said her flight from Barcelona had failed to land due to “super strong” winds buffeting the runway, before returning for a second attempt.
“Once we realised the pilot had managed it, we started to applaud. His voice was so chill and confident, which helped a lot during this situation,” she said, adding the experience had been “scary”.
“I just closed my eyes and was thinking that pilot does everything for the safe landing. Some people were screaming a bit, feeling sick. But I just closed my eyes.”
While most arrivals appeared unaffected, according to the MIA website at the time of publication, flights from Amsterdam appeared to be delayed by around two hours. All departures were registered as scheduled to leave on time.