Just over a fifth of Malta International Airport's passengers travelled to or from Italy in July, MIA said Tuesday. The market overtook the United Kingdom for the first time since February on the back of increased capacity added on several routes for the summer season.

Remaining Malta's most well-connected market in Eastern Europe, Poland continued to perform strongly during the month, with passenger numbers increasing by almost 50 per cent.

The German and French markets ranked fourth and fifth respectively, with Germany registering a marginal decline in traffic and France registering a drop of 5.1 per cent. This was the first time this summer that Germany and France slipped into negative territory, primarily due to decreased flight frequencies on several routes connecting Malta to these markets.

July's seat load factor (SLF) stood at 87.6 per cent, indicating high utilisation of available seat capacity despite an increase of 17.4 per cent. This growth was driven by an increase in aircraft movements, with the Maltese Islands benefitting from an average of 108 daily flights during the summer months.

During the month, almost 1.2 million passengers travelled through Malta International Airport.