The Malta airport tagged July’s growth as “unprecedented”, as the average daily number of passengers travelling through the hub surpasses the number of people inhabiting Malta’s most populous town; St Paul’s Bay, press statement sent to Business Malta says.

The growth was also matched by aircraft movements increasing by 4.5% to total more than 5,000 take-offs and landings throughout the month, as compared to the same month a year earlier.

Seat capacity was up by 5.6% and the seat load factor (SLF) stood at 87.0% — the metric indicating how much of the carrying capacity of airlines operating to and from Malta airport was used.

All five top markets boosting July’s traffic performed better than a year ago. The United Kingdom saw an increase of 3.9%, Italy by 1.5%, Germany by 18.2%, France by 6.8% and Spain by 10%.

The spur in figures was partly supported by an improved schedule for the summer months, which introduced several new routes including Cardiff, Exeter, Genoa, Verona, Lamezia and Perugia, the MLA says. Other developments include the extension of the Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg routes into the summer months, and increased capacity on several routes such as Rome Fiumicino, Lyon, Madrid, Valencia and Bilbao. Moreover, the airport’s Cruise and Fly programme was a contributing factor to the solid performance recorded by both the United Kingdom and Germany.

Seating area expands 10%

Having just opened a new seating area at departure previously occupied by a retail outlet, seating capacity of the airport has improved by 10%, prior to August’s “holiday rush”, according to another press statement sent to BM.

The new waiting area incorporates Maltese textures mainly through the use of limestone, which approach could likely be adopted in other parts of the terminal, MLA expects, to create a “better sense of place for the millions of tourists who pass through” the hub every day. Indeed, tourist numbers soared above 2.6 million in 2018, and expectations are high that the figure will further improve this year.

The new area has introduced two seating options catering to the needs of both travellers looking to lounge away their waiting time until departure and passengers looking to make the most of their wait by getting some work done, MLA says in the press statement. The business bars have been equipped with charging points to help business travellers quickly catch up with their daily duties prior to taking off.

The new seating area comes as but one addition to Malta Airport’s expanding infrastructure. In the following year, MLA expects to add further improvements, such as more retail space being freed up to allow for better passenger circulation and the introduction of additional seating.

Malta International Airport has also been working on finalising plans for a terminal expansion, which will see the building occupy a much larger footprint and offer better facilities as well as extended operational areas.

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The link will be part of a passageway establishing a connection between the company’s multi-storey car park, which is still under construction, and the terminal building. MLA expects the addition to further enhance the passenger journey, thanks to the covered parking spaces.

Having completed the bulk of civil works related to the underground link, MLA will now kickstart the final stage of the construction process of this tunnel, which forms part of the company’s €20m investment in a new multi-storey car park.

Works on the project started at the end of 2018, and MLA expects to wind up constructions by summer 2020. In addition to the new 1,300 covered parking spaces on the airport campus, car rental companies will be provided with a centralised area of operation.

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Travellers who do their shopping this way from 30 days up to 24 hours prior to their flight departure can skip queues and pick up their order upon payment at the Reserve and Collect priority till on the day of their travels.

“Apart from making pre-flight shopping at Dufry more convenient than ever, the Reserve and Collect scheme automatically grants its users a 10% discount on the bill,” according to the press statement issued by the Malta International Airport (MIA).

Dufry, which is a Swiss-based leading travel retailer, operates in around 2,200 duty-free and duty-paid shops around the world, and recently signed a concession agreement for the operation of Malta International Airport’s duty-free outlet until 2026.

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The airport recorded a total of 653,100 passenger movements in April, in parallel with 4,554 aircraft movements. Traffic peaked on the 18 April with over 26,500 movements, fuelled by the Easter holidays.

MIA says that its new summer schedule contributed to an increase of 6.3% in seat capacity, and seat load factor (SLF) in April grew by 3.2 percentage points to 83.3%.

The airport’s top drivers of passenger traffic remained unchanged from the previous month: the United Kingdom (+7.4%), Italy (+6.8%), Germany (+14.4%), France (+14.5%) and Spain (+13.5%), according to figures by the airport.

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The new flight information display system is plugged into a state-of-the-art Airport Management System (AMS), maintained by global air transport IT provider SITA. Malta airport says the new system is more flexible to customise and allows the airport to better communicate important information to passengers, such as flight status and departure gate allocation.

“With a seven million traffic milestone on the horizon, it is perhaps more important than ever to harness innovation so as to have access to real-time data to plan ahead, make timely decisions, and improve our agility in allocating the resources available in a way that enhances the airport experience for our passengers and the ease with which our team can perform certain day-to-day tasks,” said Ian Maggi, Head of Innovation and Technology at MIA.

“We have worked closely with Malta International Airport to provide a solution that helps the airport manage every aspect of its operation while providing a great experience for its passengers. It is rewarding to see this project come to fruition and the positive impact it has on the airport experience,” said Sergio Colella, SITA President Europe.

The Airport Management System provides a centralised dashboard which integrates several important modules, through which, critical landside and airside operations, including resource management, scheduling, flight information, parking and billing, are managed in an automated and intelligent manner, contributing to higher levels of efficiency and minimising human error, according to the press statement.

MIA is rolling out the Airport Management System in phases and is seen to be implemented in full by airport’s busy summer period. Malta International Airport has already launched its summer schedule featuring several new routes.

In the coming months, Malta International Airport will also be launching a new Baggage Reconciliation System, which would provide a better management system to all airport partners in the handling of checked-in luggage, thereby boosting security and preventing loss of passengers’ belongings.

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The Malta airport was named the third and second best airport in its category in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In 2018, however, high satisfaction scores by passengers of the airport put MIA to the top, coming first before its 35 peers in the category hosting five to 15 million passengers annually.

“At a time when the customer experience is becoming an increasingly important aspect of what a business has to offer, it is extremely rewarding to see that our passengers have once again expressed their satisfaction with the service delivered as they travelled through our airport, leading us to win the coveted Best Airport in Europe award,” says Alan Borg, CEO of MIA.

Airports Council International announced the winners following the rating of 346 airports worldwide by more than 650,000 departing passengers throughout 2018.

Being graded at 4.37 points, Malta International Airport’s overall passenger satisfaction score during peak season, stretching from July until September 2018, was significantly higher than the European average of 3.98, the press statement says.

Malta International Airport is sharing the Best Airport in Europe award with seven airports, considered to have delivered a top-notch service in 2018, in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Russia, and Iceland.

ASQ’s worldwide programme surveys passengers at the airport on the day of their travels. The programme measures passengers’ views of 34 performance indicators including airport access, check-in, security screening, stores, and restaurants. The ASQ programme also enables the sharing of best practices among airport operators.

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The growth might have well been fuelled by aircraft movements increasing by 8.9% and seat capacity improving by 6.4% in February, as compared to the same month a year earlier.

Measuring the occupancy of seats available on flights operated from Malta Airport, seat load factor (SLF) for February stood at 75.9%, the airport says.

The majority of the passengers were from the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Spain, cumulatively covering 60% of all passenger movements recorded in February.

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January’s increase in passenger numbers was accompanied by year-on-year 9.9% increase in aircraft movements and a rise of 7.9% in seat capacity, while seat load factor (SLF) for the stood at 69%, figures by the airport show.

Considering the top five markets, Spain registered a rise of 87.2%, and France was up by 12%. “In January, Malta International Airport’s traditional top driver of passenger traffic, the UK (-3.2%) was outperformed by the Italian market (-0.8%), by 604 passenger movements, and followed by the German market (-8.3%),” the press statement said.

Beyond the top five markets, traffic from Hungary has seen a striking boost of 42.4% in January, chiefly fuelled by the extension of the Budapest route from summer 2018 into winter. The airport expects further growth on this vertical due to the introduction of a flight to Debrecen in summer 2019.

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In the past three years only, Malta International Airport (MIA) in Luqa saw a remarkable 47% increase. In 2018, the most popular destinations included the UK, Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Following the introduction of better connections with these countries, the airport’s top five markets registered varying degrees of growth over 2017, ranging from 2% to 37.8%, the press statement underlines.

“While our 100-destination summer schedule was an important contributing factor to these numbers, it is encouraging to see that, for the fifth consecutive year, our shoulder and winter months have outpaced the peak summer months in terms of growth,” says Alan Borg, CEO of MIA.

Mr Borg noted that nine airlines had either extended routes originally introduced in summer into the present winter season or else increased flight frequencies on specific routes. Looking ahead to summer, Mr Borg noted that 18 new developments had been announced, including flights to Amman and the launch of daily operations to Doha by newcomer Qatar Airways.

“The Government of Malta, through the Ministry for Tourism and the Malta Tourism Authority, works collaboratively with Malta International Airport on a strategy of growth and route network expansion. By means of the significant investment programme which is being rolled out, Malta will continue to improve airline connectivity across neighbouring and strategically important areas,” says Minister for Tourism Konrad Mizzi, according to the press statement by MIA.

The airport foresees further development in 2019, with over €20m earmarked for investment.

The post Malta Airport expects record 7m+ pax in 2019 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Malta International Airport issued a call for offers for the provision of architectural and engineering services for this building and prospective bidders expected submit an initial design concept for SkyParks 2 by 13 February.

“In line with the company’s strategy of investing further in its retail and property segment, the mixed-purpose building is planned to house office and commercial space, as well as introduce a business hotel in the proximity of the terminal,” the press statement says.

The planned 1,400 sqm four-star hotel could enable primarily business travellers to maximise their time in Malta, according to the airport. A separate invitation for tenders issued at a later stage will form part of the selection process of an operator for this hotel.

“SkyParks 2’s initial design concept is required to include conceptual elements geared at achieving energy efficiency and rendering the building eligible for BREEAM assessment and subsequent certification,” the press statement says.

Construction works would launch once MIA re-assesses the feasibility of this project following the ideation stage and finalises its ongoing multi-storey car park project, which could wind up by 2020.

The precursor of Malta International Airport’s next development – SkyParks Business Centre reached full occupancy shortly after its inauguration.

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