Malta International Airport today welcomed its four millionth passenger this year, achieving this milestone in record time: more than a month earlier than last year.

The figure means that the airport saw an average of more than 12,000 passengers every day, enough to fill up Wembley Stadium each week.

"This is a remarkable achievement. We have registered record growth in seven years out of the past eight. This would not have been possible without the dedicated effort of all our employees, partners and other stakeholders. We remain focused on developing sustainable capacity and attracting visitors to our islands, whilst offering new and exciting destinations to the local market," said Markus Klaushofer, Chief Executive Officer at Malta International Airport.

The increase in passenger traffic illustrates the efforts placed by the airport and its key stakeholders to secure better connectivity to the Maltese islands.

Tourism Minister Hon. Edward Zammit Lewis commented: "We mark this occasion since it is a major milestone and the result of the hard work of all stakeholders involved, most notably Government and MIA, to consistently increase passenger traffic. Our country is developing into an even more important hub for tourism, business and other related matters. Tourism remains a major driving force for Malta's economy." he said, adding that 2015 would be another successful year in tourism.

Paul Bugeja, Malta Tourism Authority Chief Executive Officer, pointed out that this year's result was reached well before it was reached last year, thanks to the cooperation among stakeholders.

"While we endeavour to increase numbers, all partners are also working towards improving the mix and seasonality to ensure a more sustainable industry. I congratulate MIA for this great success," he added.

The airport's results are even more impressive when compared to other European airports in its category. For the period ending September, European airports reported a growth of 6.4 per cent while the Malta International Airport registered an increase of 7.2 per cent.

These accomplishments were mainly driven by the additional seat capacity together with an improvement in average seat load factor to reach an overall 79.6 per cent.

A gift was presented to Lucia Belardi from Italy, on behalf of Malta International Airport, in the presence of Malta Tourism Authority CEO, Paul Bugeja. Passenger movements are forecasted to exceed 4.2 million by end of year.