Passengers left high and dry when Air Malta cancelled its New Year’s Day flights to and from Paris will now travel on Tuesday evening, the airline said in a statement on Monday.

Air Malta had cancelled the flights following a bird strike that affected one of its aircraft as it flew passengers from Berlin on New Year’s Eve, forcing it to turn back.

Flight KM377 operating from Berlin to Malta encountered the flock of birds shortly after take-off. It was carrying 165 passengers, five infants and six crew.

As a result, the airline suffered a shortage of aircraft that “caused significant disruption cascading into the planned flight operations for January 1.”

It said it had tried to source a replacement aircraft through multiple organisations but was unable to find any during this busy time of the year.  

As a result, flight KM466/467 from Malta to Paris Orly and back to Malta was cancelled.

Affected passengers were provided with hotel accommodation in both Malta and Paris. Replacement flights will now take place on the evening of Tuesday January 3, the airline said as it apologised for the inconvenience caused.