Malta International Airport closed off summer, which stretches from April until the end of October for the aviation industry, with 4,269,623 passenger movements. This translates into an impressive increase of more than 600,000 passenger movements over the same comparable period in 2016, the MIA said in a statement.
“Last summer was our busiest yet on more levels than one. Apart from our ongoing Terminal Reconfiguration Project, we hosted over 4 million passengers in a span of seven months, which highlights the fastest rate ever at which traffic through our airport has grown. Having recently launched our winter schedule, our traffic development team, together with the Malta Tourism Authority, is looking ahead to next summer, with a number of interesting developments already in sight,” said MIA CEO Alan Borg.
Growth in passenger numbers in the summer months was observed in parallel with an upturn of 13.3 per cent in aircraft movements and an increase of 16.1 per cent in seat capacity, mainly stemming from an enhanced flight schedule for the season. Moreover, at 85.0 per cent, seat load factor (SLF) for the seven-month period remained unchanged from last year.
The top drivers of passenger traffic to Malta International Airport were the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Spain. Growing by 9.6 per cent over last year, the UK accounted for 1,025,055 passengers, which is almost a quarter of the airport’s total traffic for summer. The other four markets all registered double-digit growth ranging between 14.0 per cent and 32.5 per cent, with Spain’s increase being the most noteworthy.
Having welcomed over 5.2 million passengers for the year to date, the airport’s focus has now shifted to achieving the best results for winter. On the last weekend of October, the airport unveiled its new winter schedulefeaturing 66 destinations, five of which are new.
Traffic through Malta International Airport in October grew by 15.4 per cent to reach 596,648 passenger movements, on the back of a 14.7 per cent increase in aircraft movements and a 16.4 per cent increase in seat capacity.