Passengers in winter increase by 4.5% - MIA

 A statement by the Malta International Airport has revealed that Malta gained more than 52,000 passengers between November 2014 and March 2015, with MIA hosting more than a quarter of a million passengers in March alone.

“Passenger traffic throughout the winter season increased by 4.5%,” the statement reads.

MIA said that Malta had gained more than 52,000 passengers between November 2014 and March 2015 compared to the same winter period last year.

“This shows that the co-ordinated effort of tourism stakeholders is paying off, and the island’s strategy to attract more visitors during the winter months is working,” MIA said.

“The growth we’ve harnessed this winter has been very encouraging. The positive results achieved in this first quarter of the year motivate us to keep working towards more growth throughout 2015,” CEO Alan Borg said.

“We have five new airlines for this year, and three new destinations. This growing network offered from Malta by our airline partners gives the travelling public greater choice, flexibility and convenience whether they are travelling for business or for pleasure,” Borg added.

The statement explained that for the first quarter of 2015, passenger movements at MIA had registered an increase of 5.6%, while aircraft movements had grown by 1.4%.

“Meanwhile, passenger traffic in March also grew by 4.5%, reaching a record of 275,334 passenger movements.”

According to MIA, this was brought about by a 1.6% increase in aircraft movements that translated into an increase of 2.2% seat capacity.

“The average seat load factor, which measures the percentage of filled seats on each flight, grew by 1.8 PPD last month when compared to March 2014, reaching 79.9%,” the statement explained.

MIA explained that the UK and Italian markets had once again grown remarkably in March by 9.6% and 9.8% respectively, whereas the German market shrank by 7.4 % due to reduced capacity on the Frankfurt route, and France grew by 2.7%. Traffic from Turkey also rose significantly with a 74.4% increase over 2014.

“The maximum take-off weight (MTOW) and Cargo and Mail decreased by 0.4% and 5.2% respectively,” the statement said.

“Malta International Airport plc continues to invest in its infrastructure and will this month complete a €1 million infrastructural investment which will see the rehabilitation and resurfacing of pavements on Taxiway Charlie,” MIA said.