The Malta International Airport board of directors yesterday issued its interim statement.

It said: “During the period under review, the financial position of the company has remained sound. For the second half of the year, passenger traffic has improved significantly compared to the first half of the year, but is more or less what the company anticipated at the beginning of the year.”

For the period January to June passenger traffic was down by 10.9% over the same period last year. The situation improved significantly in the third quarter of the year when passenger movements were down by 4.7% over the same period last year.

For the last quarter of the year the company anticipates a small increase which will bring the total number of passengers this year to approximately 7% less than 2008.

The passenger numbers for the forthcoming winter season should largely be at the 2009 level with perhaps some small improvements.

In the meantime, the company has set up a new 100% owned subsidiary Sky Parks Development Ltd to manage and operate the proposed development of the Business Centre in the vicinity of the Airport Terminal.

The company has also changed the name of the current subsidiary that runs the airport car parks, (previously Sky Parks Ltd), to Airport Parking Ltd.