We all, or most of us, hear them when they are over us, either landing or taking off.
It’s planes we are talking about and they have never been as numerous as they have been this summer.
Alternatively, one can watch on one of those websites that track flights and see them as ants in a procession, coming down or taking off from Malta.
Most of us must have been to the airport this summer and seen and remained amazed at the vast numbers of people. It is a wonder however often we see it, how all those people milling around the departure lounge manage to get to the right plane and arrive at their destination with their luggage intact.
Last week, MIA announced its half-year results upgrading its January predictions of a 2.4% increase this year to a 4.2% one. Hopefully the number of passengers will go up to 4.2 million this year, as against 4.0 last year.
Just as Ryanair yesterday celebrated the 5 millionth passenger to be carried by them to Malta in the years they have been operating to Malta, so too the MIA 4 millionth passenger will land sometime in November, as against on 29 December as last year.
All this is a remarkable result, unthinkable just a few years ago when opposition to low cost airlines was at its peak. Maybe, with hindsight, we could have opened up to low cost airlines even before. Maybe too, we can do even better.
It is quite remarkable that, whatever the numbers that come to Malta in August, however we may think that ‘surely’ we have reached full capacity, more and more people still come and we are not seeing people sleeping under the trees.
The figures released in recent days, after the MIA half-yearly results were out, showed that July saw the highest ever amount of people to come to Malta in a single month. We can’t wait for the August figures to come out.
There have been years when, whatever was done, the incoming tourism figures seemed to have plateaued and could never be budged. Now they have, and the reason is low cost airlines. There is still more growth that can be achieved without becoming anything like Ischia at the height of Ferragosto (not that we are that far away, as it is).
Following these few years of bounty, hoteliers seem to have come out of the lethargy and pessimism brought about by years of scarce returns and tour operators’ diktats. Those of them who have ventured to set up a website have found that people who fly low cost do not like to plan months ahead, as they do with tour operators. They fly on a whim, possibly last minute, and wherever tickles their fancy.
Many hoteliers have thus started to think strategically of increasing their rooms and amenities and some works have already begun. Others are in the pipeline. Tourism is wonderful for its knock-on effects.
Besides, as everyone knows, MIA has become a wonderful venue for many people not just for its Food Court or Skypark but also for the ambiance it offers. MIA has many more ventures ahead, from new airlines being attracted to Malta, to new routes being opened up. Looking ahead, one may perhaps glimpse the not so distant future when MIA will finally graduate out of the ‘less than 5 million passengers’ class.