Malta International Airport (MIA) hit the 700,000-passenger mark early, with the traffic for April amounting to 708,388 movements.

Marking an increase of 8.4% over 2019 levels, this total was boosted by the launch of the airport's new summer schedule and the Easter holidays, Malta International Airport said in a statement.

Easter weekend - 7 to 10 April - was the month's busiest weekend as 98,449 passengers passed through Malta International Airport's doors, the company said.

"April's positive traffic result was registered on the back of an increase of 6.8% over 2019 in the seat capacity deployed on flights to and from Malta and a strong seat load factor (SLF) of 84.6%."

The top driver of passenger traffic for the month was the Italian market, followed by the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Following a six-month absence from the leaderboard, Spain once again ranked fifth in April, MIA said.

"The Spanish market's improved performance largely stemmed from the resumption of flights to Seville and Valencia together with increased flight frequencies on the Barcelona route as part of the airport's summer schedule."