Malta International Airport registers another month of growth

Just under 500,000 passengers passed through Malta International Airport in May of this year. This was a 7.8% growth over the same month last year.

The launch of new routes as well as more frequent journeys to some popular destinations contributed to the growth in passenger numbers in May as they partly spurred an increase in seat capacity of 4.9%.

"Airlines are also operating more efficiently on their trips to Malta, as the figures from the average load factors indicate that the number of filled seats on every flight continued to climb to 81.4%," the Malta International Airport said in a statement.

The most popular journeys in May remained largely unchanged, with the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Poland being the countries most people commuted to and from.

MIA said that the key drivers to May’s growth were increased connectivity to several destinations in the UK including Birmingham, Edinburgh, Stansted and Manchester resulting in a 5.3% growth year on year, while traffic to Italy grew by 14.3% due to increased capacity on the Rome and Catania routes.

Traffic to Germany and France grew only by 0.6% and 1.8% respectively, while Poland marked a growth of 50.2% when compared to May 2015. The huge growth in Poland’s respect was in part due to the launch of the route to Poznan and an increased frequency in the flights to Gdansk.

"Taking into account the number of travellers between January and May of this year, 164,491 passengers more travelled through Malta International Airport then they did in the period between January and May of 2015," the MIA said.

The total number of passengers in 2016 have almost reached the 1.7 million mark.

May’s record brings the airport to its 50th consecutive month on month growth.