With the summer season coming to a close in October for the aviation industry, Malta International Airport has introduced its new winter flight schedule, maintaining connectivity to more than 80 airports across 31 markets.

MIA said in a statement the schedule offers a solid network of connections to key European markets, with Southern Europe seeing the largest number of connections and Western Europe benefitting from the broadest airline presence.

The strategically important Scandinavian market will be accessible through three airlines, offering flights to airports in Denmark and Sweden.

Malta International Airport said will also be connected to airports in the Middle East and Africa.

Against the current backdrop of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, Malta International Airport's winter schedule reflects airline partners' confidence in the Maltese Islands' potential. With flight frequency increases on certain routes offset by decreases on other routes, passenger traffic is expected to remain broadly in line with the previous winter.

SEPTEMBER TRAFFIC

In September, Malta International Airport welcomed 1,109,789 passengers, with the airport's top five markets accounting for 63 per cent of these movements.

The United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Germany all registered varying degrees of growth, while the French market saw a decline of 10.7 per cent in passenger numbers.

September's traffic result, which amounted to 12 per cent growth, was achieved on the back of an increase of almost 16 per cent in seat capacity, with the seat load factor (SLF) registering a marginal decrease of 3 percentage points to average 87.7 per cent.