Traffic at Malta International Airport in September registered an increase of more than 89,000 passenger movements over the same month last year, with a total of 626,488 guests welcomed at MIA.

This translated into an increase of 16.7% over 2016. Moreover, September was the third consecutive month at the airport to surpass the 600,000 mark in terms of passenger numbers.

Standing at 86.7%, September's seat load factor remained constant, in spite of the increase in both aircraft movements (14.6%) and seat capacity (17.0%).

The United Kingdom continued to lead MIA's list of top markets, contributing 146,160 passenger movements to September's total traffic and growing by 4.7% over last year mainly due to an increase in capacity as a result of the Cruise & Fly operation.

On the other hand, the rest of the top markets, these being Italy (10.5%), Germany (25.8%) and France (17.6%) all registered double-digit growth.

Spain, which is the fifth largest market, is maintaining its year-to-date progress, with a hefty 43.8% increase in passenger movements in September, partly stemming from increased flight frequencies to Madrid.