MaltaPost has warned people to continue to expect mail delays until airlines resume normal operations. 

The operator issued a statement after a litany of complaints about its service flooded social media this week.

A question posed by one customer on Facebook group Expats Malta, asking if anyone has experienced delays with parcels and mail arriving, received dozens of responses.

Many shared stories about waiting weeks for items to arrive from abroad, while others said letters they posted two weeks ago - to be delivered within Malta - still hadn’t arrived.

Some had tried to contact MaltaPost and said they received no reply. Others said they had been told the delays are related to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

The social media comments prompted MaltaPost to issue a statement on their Facebook page. 

It said the international postal network is “still very congested” due to the suspension and cancellation of flights, causing operational difficulties at MaltaPost.

“This disruption is expected to continue until airlines resume normal operations and sufficient transport capacity becomes available,”

MaltaPost also said various online websites were providing “misleading tracking information” that showed mail items arriving in Malta when they had not. 

It named Chinese carriers like Sunyou, Yanwen and Cianiao used by sellers on Joom, Wish, eBay and Aliexpress as posting false automatic updates. 

It said MaltaPost recommends using its website for correct tracking updates or the website from the ‘sending postal operator’.

In a statement to Times of Malta, the company said that it is the responsibility of the postal service of the country mail is sent from to ensure it reaches the destination country.

The ban on commercial flights between late March and July had had a major impact because Malta was only connected to London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam for incoming mail.

For outbound mail, MaltaPost said it had to reroute all mail via these three airports and was "proud that we managed to find alternative routes", with mail to China only suspended for a month from mid-February.

"Although the number of flights are increasing, we are still far from the normal number of flights to and from Malta." 

Despite the resumption of commercial travel in July, flights were still down by 60% from last year, MaltaPost said. 

"One must also consider the flight schedule worldwide since Malta has connections to a limited number of countries."