Top contributors to MIA’s growing passenger numbers were the United Kingdom (+1.1%), Italy (+4.1%), Germany (+0.3%), France (+4.3%) and Spain (+15.3%), all of which registered varying levels of growth, according to the press release.

MIA saw an increase of 4.2% in aircraft movements stemming from a summer schedule offering improved connectivity as well.

In addition, seat capacity grew by 5.3%. Airlines operating from Malta International Airport were, therefore, successful in maintaining a healthy seat load factor (SLF) of 80.2% for May, the airport says.

The airport’s two biggest markets are being served by a total of six new routes this summer: Exeter (England), Cardiff (Wales), Perugia, Lamezia, Verona and Genoa (Italy).

The first four routes were launched in April and the first flights from Verona and Genoa by Volotea were announced earlier.

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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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“Today we are here because we can continue seeing growth in the aviation sector, another pillar of the economy which contributes to 2.5% of our country’s gross domestic product,” the minister said when visiting Transport Malta’s offices where he presented SmartLynx with their Air Operator Certificate (AOC). “We want to turn the 315 aircraft to 400 this year, and the 35 AOCs to 40. This is our plan,” minister Borg stated.

The minister acknowledged the work of the Civil Aviation Directorate within Transport Malta. The authority has recently reached a number of agreements with Japan, South Korea, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Minister Borg added that discussions are underway toward reaching agreements with South America as well as strengthening relationships with several countries in the sector, including Brazil.

“After all this is a sector that creates more than 3,200 jobs — specialised jobs — and that is also why we will continue working to see the aviation industry grow, toward more investment, toward more connectivity and toward more jobs,” the minister said.

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An 8.1% increase in aircraft movements and a 7.6% increase in seat capacity accompanied the aforementioned passenger number growth. Seat load factor (SLF) for the season stood at 76.0%, the airport says. The Maltese islands are becoming an increasingly popular destination in the off-peak months, which is in line with the tourism strategy to mitigate seasonality.

“Having an extensive route network is crucial in securing year-round traffic, but it is the unceasing efforts of our people which ensure that we can continue to provide safe and delightful airport journeys to an ever-increasing number of passengers. Whil thanking the MIA team and all airport stakeholders for their contribution to what has been a good winter, I encourage everyone to keep up the excellent work in the summer months ahead,” said Alan Borg, CEO of MIA.

With the exception of Germany — seeing a drop of 2.9%—, all of Malta International Airport’s top five markets experienced growth. Spain and France registered 63.1% and 14.7% growth respectively, followed by Italy and the United Kingdom growing by 3.3% and 0.3% respectively. Beyond the top five drivers of traffic, Slovakia, Portugal and Estonia performed exceptionally well, according to MIA.

Bringing the winter period to a close, March registered an increase of 1.3% in passenger movements, which modest increase is mainly due to the fact that the Easter holiday effect occurred in March last year, the airport says.

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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.

The post Malta airport pax numbers grow 2.9% in February first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.