With 428,426 passenger movements registered, October became Malta International Airport's (MIA) best performing month since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a statement by MIA read.

"Despite this encouraging result, which can be partly attributed to the easing of more entry restrictions by government and the mid-term holiday effect, last month's traffic was still 39.1% lower than October 2019 levels."

This decline in passenger numbers over October 2019 was registered in parallel with a drop of 28.5% in aircraft movements and a decrease of 27.7% in seat capacity. Seat load factor (SLF), on the other hand, stood at 69.3%, which translates into a drop of 13% compared to the same month in 2019.

"The United Kingdom, which simplified testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers at the beginning of October, continued to top the list of Malta International Airport's best-performing markets, registering just over 110,800 passenger movements. Italy, Germany, France and Spain followed the United Kingdom with a cumulative total of 170,991 passenger movements."