A passenger on an Air Malta flight that had to be aborted twice after issues emerged in the aircraft, said anxiety-riddled passengers thought the plane was going to crash. 

On Saturday, an Air Malta flight from Geneva to Malta had to return to base twice shortly after taking off on both occasions, with the crew of flight KM483 identifying technical issues with the aircraft.

"It was horrible on the second flight; there was a terrible noise, and everyone thought we were going down,” said Nathalie Bartolo. 

The incident took place around four hours after the first flight they were on had been forced to turn back due to a “navigation problem,” she said.

After around four hours spent on the runway in Geneva, the second flight took off only to return to the airport after a loud noise rocked the cabin, she said. 

A crew member later informally told her the noise was due to an onboard test and that passengers were completely safe at all times, she added.  

On Sunday, Air Malta confirmed flight KM483 had been forced to return to base twice owing to technical issues.

The incident marked the beginning of a weekend-long ordeal, which left Bartolo and many of her fellow passengers stranded in Switzerland as of Monday afternoon.  

After only checking into a hotel at around 1am on Sunday, Bartolo and her husband had been forced to check out later that morning, leaving them to spend most of the day at the airport with their luggage in tow.  

While some passengers had paid “exorbitant” amounts to make their own flight arrangements home and others had received notification of being rebooked on other flights, Bartolo and her husband have still not been told when they will be able to return to Malta, she said.  

Fellow passenger Maria Bartolo – who is not related to the former passenger – is travelling with her partner and two young children aged four months and three years old and called the experience “a nightmare.” 

“I packed a certain amount of milk and nappies... I’ve run out of clothes for the baby and things are very expensive in Switzerland,” she said.  

Responding to questions sent on Sunday, Air Malta said on Monday that all remaining passengers who wished to travel had been booked on a flight departing Geneva on Tuesday morning.  

While some customers had been “facilitated and re-routed" on flights operated by other airlines and others had opted for a refund and not to travel, those left in Switzerland awaiting Tuesday’s flight had been provided with hotel accommodation, the airline said.  

“Air Malta would once again like to apologise for this unfortunate situation which arose during one of the busiest periods of the year when many people were returning to base after the summer holidays and regrettably no aircraft were available for substitution.”