Increase of 18.4% in passenger movements at MIA

Passenger movements at Malta International Airport in October reached 331,910, the highest number ever registered in October and the first time October reached the 300,000 mark.

The increase in passenger movements, when compared to the same month last year, is equivalent to an increase of 18.4%. Seat capacity in the same month was of 459,659, i.e. a considerable increase of 17.1% over October 2009.

In October, aircraft movements grew by 15.4% over the corresponding period last year, whilst the average seat load factor was also on the increase, reaching 72.2% - up from the 71.4% registered in October 2009. The maximum take-off weight (MTOW) grew by 15.2 with a total of 231,905 tonnes, whilst cargo and mail was 6.9% lower than that recorded during the same month in 2009.

The French, Spanish and Italian markets once again grew remarkably in October, by 54.2%, 41.1% and 24.8% respectively, whereas Germany and the UK grew by more modest but nonetheless significant increases of 10.5% and 8.5% respectively.

The results for the first 10 months of the year, in terms of passenger movements, therefore show an increase of 13.0% when compared to the same period last year, totalling 2,916,179 passenger movements. Once again, this positive result was mainly brought about by the strong increase in seat capacity, which was 10.4% higher than that recorded in 2009, coupled with the fact that the average seat load factor was 1.6 percentage points higher than that registered during the same period last year.