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%.

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Growth in passenger numbers was registered on the back of an increase of 5.8% in aircraft movements and a 7.6% increase in seat capacity. Additionally, seat load factor (SLF) for August improved marginally over the same month last year to stand at 88%.

The airport’s top drivers of passenger traffic were the United Kingdom (+3.1%), Italy (+0.4%), Germany (+24.7%), France (+13.7%) and Spain (+9.3%).

MLA says the boost to its figures were chiefly fuelled by the holiday season, as well as the more than 120 destinations available from Malta’s international airport located in Luqa. This year’s summer schedule has featured 16 developments, including the introduction of several new routes and improved flight frequencies on a number of existing routes.

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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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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.

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