A Spanish plane was refused permission to land in Malta on Tuesday after claims that it was coming here for maintenance proved to be false, the authorities said. 

Transport Minister Ian Borg told Times of Malta that the plane was not granted permission to land, given that it had no valid reason to be here.

He said the plane's operators told the Maltese civil aviation authorities that it was coming here for scheduled maintenance but it resulted that the plane appeared to have no booked slots with companies providing the service in Malta. 

He pointed out that there was limited space at the airport since aircraft were not flying.

The Airbus A330-202 plane was spotted circling south of Malta at just 7,000 feet for more than 20 minutes. It then flew back to Madrid.