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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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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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.

The post MIA pax numbers grow further in April first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

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.

The post Malta airport’s traffic grows by 10.5% in April first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic with a slice of 99.7% of the total; counting 77,85, NSO statistics show. However, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried an average of 3,717 passengers, which figure is 385 less than the previous year.

Passengers from European Union member states comprised 65.9% of the total traffic, with Italy, France and Germany being the main drivers. Some 19% of the total traffic was from the United States.

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Out of the arrivals in February, 103,655 inbound tourist trips were spent for holiday purposes, and the rest 14,776 for business purposes, according to figures by the NSO.

The number of tourists arriving from European Union member states was up by 1.7% to 107,744, as compared to February 2018. The majority of visitors (41.1%) was aged 25-44, followed by the 45-64 age bracket (31.5%)

Total nights spent was up by 3.5%, amounting to 774,569 nights, with the largest share of guest nights (58.6%) having been spent in collective accommodation establishments.

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €71.2m, a decrease of 2.8%v over the corresponding month in 2018.

The full report including charts and visual representation of data is available for download at the website of NSO.

The post Malta’s inbound visitor numbers up 2.3% in February first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

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.