Malta International Airport targets 5.4 million passengers

Malta International Airport is eyeing 5.4 million passengers by the end of this year, buoyed by encouraging results in the first half.

MIA CEO Alan Borg said despite the challenges facing the aviation industry, the company expects to be connected via 83 routes in the winter season.

Borg said the company had enough visibility to present reliable traffic forecasts after it welcomed 2.3 million passengers in the first half of the year. Performance in the second quarter recovered well, balancing out the sluggish start to the year.

“Malta International Airport expects to end the year with 5.4 million passengers, which figure is comparable to the traffic the airport had handled in 2016 and 2017,” Borg said.

He added that preliminary works on the Apron X project will start in mid-August as the company continues its investment programme. This project will see the development of approximately 100,000sq.m of land to accommodate new aircraft parking stands, a taxiway, a staging area for ground handling operations and a reservoir.   

Borg said that in spite of the recent signs of the comeback of air travel, the international aviation industry continues to navigate a tough landscape characterised by industrial actions, staff shortages and other operational constraints.

“We must now focus on maintaining the momentum gained in the second quarter beyond the summer months. Given our mid-year performance and flight schedule for winter, we are quite confident that our 5.4 million traffic target can be achieved if we continue to work with our stakeholders,” Borg said.

During the winter season, MIA expects to be connected through 83 routes, marking a recovery of around 80% of the airport’s pre-pandemic connectivity. Two of the routes that will be making a comeback this winter after having been discontinued for the season at the onset of the pandemic are Skopje in North Macedonia and Cluj in Romania, both of which will be operated by Wizz Air.

Malta Tourism Authority CEO Carlo Micallef said the sustained growth in connectivity following the pandemic has resulted in Malta being directly accessible from a growing number of routes and with increasing frequency.

“This has had a direct impact on tourism numbers which are increasing in direct response to airline capacity being floated.  The MTA will continue working to attract increasing tourism numbers to achieve the recovery of the sector by tapping into new and emerging geographical markets and by targeting a wide range of motivational interests in line with the destination’s multifaceted attractions,” Micallef said.