Passenger figures this November have continued the upward trend which has characterized this year’s overall performance, increasing by 10.6% over the same period last year and equivalent to an additional 27,250 passenger movements, Malta International Airport said today.

Seat capacity grew by 9.4% due to greater route frequency, while the number of occupied seats on flights also increased from 80% to 81.3%.

MIA CEO Alan Borg said: “We are very pleased with the uninterrupted growth in passenger figures this year. The increases have been significant and well spread out, indicating that the gains in traffic are consistent and sustainable. November was also an extra-ordinary month in terms of events, as we were among the many local stakeholders working to ensure the EU Africa Summit and CHOGM run smoothly. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in both events for their cooperation and good work.”

Traffic Variations

The top five destinations last month saw one major shift in which Turkey displaced Switzerland after achieving an impressive 63.4% rise in passengers due to increased flights to Istanbul. This November two of the airport’s top five markets saw a slight dip in traffic numbers with France and Germany dropping by -3.6% and -0.2% respectively. The rest outperformed the same period last year, with Italy registering an 18% increase in passengers and the UK market increasing by 1.9%. Spain also bolstered its traffic figures by more than double as a result of new operations to and from Barcelona this winter.

In November the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased by 12.5%.

Cargo & Mail

Last month, Cargo and Mail marked an increase of 11.5%, reaching 1,476 tonnes.

Year Round-Up

Overall traffic figures show that over 300,000 more journeys started and ended at our airport this year. Passenger movements have risen by 7.6%, aircraft movements by 6.4%, cargo and mail by 3.4%, and seat capacity has expanded by 5.6%.