Both aircraft movements and seat capacity increased, by 8.5% and 10.1%, respectively. The seat load factor (SLF) stood at 78.1% in November.

Considering the top markets, the recently-introduced Trieste and Santiago de Compostela routes boosted the Italian and Spanish markets, while passenger movements for the United Kingdom and Germany dropped in November:

1. the United Kingdom (-1.0%),
2. Italy (+4.3%),
3. Germany (-7.4%),
4. France (+19.2%),
5. and Spain (+23.2%).

The Malta International Airport also recently launched two routes—Paphos in Cyprus and Niš in Serbia—as part of its winter flight schedule.

Cumulatively, the airport’s four new routes contributed just over 10,460 passenger movements to total traffic for November, the MLA says.

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Air temperatures dropped from September’s 25.6°C average to a mean of 22.3°C in October, albeit rising to a high of 29.3°C on the first day of the month and falling to a low of 15.9°C on 8 October. Temperatures stayed generally warmer than the climate norm: the mean maximum and minimum exceeding the monthly average by 0.5°C and 1°C, respectively.

Nevertheless, the number of story days more than doubled as compared to expectations. Usually, October sees five thundery days, while this year, the islands came under 11 days of thunderstorms. The climate norm of 20 mm of rain grew disproportionately to 94 mm this year. A wetter-than-expected October was capped off with 24.6 mm on 29 October—the wettest day of the month.

While the islands welcomed lower temperatures and wetter weather, sunny skies remained a regular fixture on the weather forecast, with October’s daily sunlight hours averaging at 6.8 hours. A total of 212.1 sunshine hours were measured throughout the month, with a light cloud cover measuring a daily average of 3.2 oktas—unit used to express the extent of cloud cover—being reported.

The post Warmer October brings unexpected amount of rain to Malta’s shores first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Flights to Serbia’s third-largest city will be operated by Ryanair every Monday and Friday throughout the winter season. Being one of the oldest cities in Europe, Niš is home to the remains of Constantine the Great’s Roman palace to buildings going back to a time when the Ottomans occupied the city.

The post Ryanair’s Niš-Malta flight touches down first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The new routes include Paphos, Trieste, and Santiago de Compostela — operated by Ryanair and flying twice a week until March.

“While Trieste and Santiago de Compostela have further broadened the airport’s already-extensive route network in two of its top markets; Italy and Spain, Paphos is the second direct connection between Malta and Cyprus,” the Malta airport press statement says.

Malta International Airport will be launching the fourth new route to Niš in Serbia for the season in November.

The post MLA launches winter schedule with new routes first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

After June being the hottest since 1923, the summer season’s highest air temperature was measured at 39.6°C amid the heatwave hitting the island on 8-10 July. The monthly 325 hours of summer sunshine kept the Maltese islands’ temperature between 18.5°C and 39.6°C.

Mean sea temperatures also climbed higher than the climate norm for every summer month throughout the season, reaching a 27.3°C high in August. The brightest summer days with 13.2 hours of sunshine were 18 and 19 August.

The five thunderstorms within the first 11 days of August, however, hit the islands as a reminder: with the starting of September the summer season begins fading out.

Seeing 12.2 mm of rain, 10 September was both the wettest day of the month and of the season. Additionally, it was the season’s gloomiest day: the sun only appeared for 0.1 hours.

In total, 31.7 mm of precipitation were measured during the summer months.

The post Malta’s 2019 summer warmer than usual first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“These exercises are being organised with the aim of testing and enhancing the level of preparedness of the aforementioned entities for an emergency scenario, whilst also testing the adequacy of the emergency equipment used and the emergency response plan in place,” the press statement says.

Therefore MLA urges the public not be alarmed upon witnessing “unusual” activities today. Such activities include the presence of a number of emergency vehicles, like fire engines being driven in the vicinity of the airport perimeter.

“Malta International Airport would like to thank the public for their cooperation, whilst reminding passengers travelling on the indicated day that this exercise will not affect their journey,” the press statement adds.

The post Malta airport holds emergency training exercise today first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The United Kingdom was still the most popular market in September and saw a 1.8% growth, which further fuels insecurity as to how the traffic of the MLA will be affected once the United Kingdom leaves the bloc.

Although Germany was the fastest-growing market among the top five countries with a growth of 25%, it only claimed the third place behind Italy — growing by 4.5% — on the second place. France, in the fourth place, saw a 1% drop, while Spain saw an increase of 2.5% in the fifth place.

Cumulatively, the top five markets contributed more than 500,000 passenger movements to September’s total traffic.

Aircraft movements grew by year-on-year 6.5% in September, seat capacity registered an increase of 7.3%, while seat load factor (SLF) was marginally up by 0.3 percentage points to 86.2%.

The post MLA pax numbers rise further in September 2019 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Malta International Airport’s investment in photovoltaic panels allows the airport to contribute to the curbing of CO2 emissions, with structures such as the new 998-kilowatt peak photovoltaic (PV) system, the airport says. The system is located on the airfield and is roughly 2,000% greater than the peak power rating of the average photovoltaic system for the commercial sector for 2018.

In 2018, a PV system with a considerably lower peak power rating than the recently installed system led to the generation of over 602,000 kWh of clean energy, which is approximately equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of 40 average Maltese households, the airport says. A PV system utilises solar modules that comprise several solar cells generating electrical power.

Furthermore, the airport has taken up other initiatives to be more environmentally sustainable, such as the gradual replacement of lighting and equipment with more energy-efficient alternatives and the rolling out of a vehicle fleet replacement programme, says the press release. In fact, MLA saw a drop of 12% in greenhouse gas emissions and a decrease of 11.6% in total water consumption in 2018.

Additionally, Malta International Airport has signed Airport Council International (ACI) Europe’s resolution to become a net-zero carbon industry for emissions under its control by no later than 2050. Malta International Airport is also a member of ACI’s Carbon Accreditation Programme at the mapping level.

The post MLA invests €1.2m in PV panels first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

EDITORIAL UPDATE: According to data posted by Flightradar24, the ZT1187 flight was completed on 23 September landing in London Gatwick at 19:42 (local time).

“From the information we have so far, we know that a rescue flight will be operated this afternoon instead of the original flight scheduled to depart our airport at 17:15,” an MLA spokesperson told Business Malta about the flight scheduled for today, 23 September.

Information posted by Thomas Cook on its official website confirms that the original flight of MT1187 from Malta to London Gatwick scheduled to depart at 17:15 (local time) and arrive at 19:35 (local time) is being replaced by flight ZT1187, flying with the exact same parameters.

The official website of Thomas Cook says that “Thomas Cook UK Plc and associated UK entities have entered compulsory liquidation and are now under the control of the official receiver. The UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect and all future flights and holidays are cancelled.”

Nevertheless, the company says that “dedicated support service is being provided by The Civil Aviation Authority to assist customers currently overseas and those in the United Kingdom with future bookings.”

After last-minute negotiations aimed at saving the 178-year-old holiday firm failed, Thomas Cook was reported to have collapsed, according to BBC. Beyond UK customers, hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers from other countries are affected by the collapse, the Guardian reports.

The post ‘Rescue flight’ to pick up Thomas Cook pax in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The maximum temperature for August was registered at 36°C on the 13th of the month, while the lowest was 21.8°C recorded on 6 August. The brightest days of the month were 18 and 19 August, when the sun shone for a total of 13.2 hours. 

August’s lack of rainfall was one of the main contributors to this increase in average temperature, the Malta International Airport (MLA) says in the press release. Only traces amounts of precipitation and 1.2 hours of sunshine were recorded on 29 August, making it the dullest day of the month. The mean wind speed in August 2019 only reached 6 knots, which is half a knot calmer than the norm. 

Cloud cover averaged at 0.9 oktas — unit used to express the extent of cloud cover —  for August 2019 but was expected to be 1.2 oktas. This contributed to a 19.3-hour increase in sunshine hours from August 2018, when only 312.1 hours of sunshine were recorded. Furthermore, 331.4 total hours of sunshine were recorded in August 2019, still short of the monthly average of 335.3 hours, notes the press release.

The post August temperatures rise further in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.