Over half a million airport passengers in July

The Malta International Airport experienced a 7.1% increase in passenger traffic in July when compared to the previous month in 2014.

The MIA hosted 547,970 passengers last month, just short of the 551,450registered in August 2014, which holds the record for the highest number of passengers welcomed at in a month.

MIA said in a statement that the rise in passenger traffic can be attributed to an increased seat load factor, which measures the percentage of filled seats on each flight, of 85.2% and an increase of 4.4% in aircraft movements.

The most significant growth in July was recorded on Italian routes, which saw a rise of 11.6% when compared to 2014, ranking Italy second amongst Malta International Airport’s top markets due to an increase in passengers to and from Catania and Linate airports.

The United Kingdom maintains its position as Malta’s biggest tourism market with an increase of 4.3%, with 137,152 passengers last month alone. In total, over 700,000 passengers have travelled along Maltese-British routes so far this year.

Due to strong growth on the Frankfurt route, the German market also increased by 4.7% last month. France and Spain’s numbers dropped marginally by 2.2% and 4.1% respectively.

To date, traffic through Malta International Airport in 2015 increased by 6.9% when compared to the same period last year. The maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased by 2.6% and cargo and mail decreased by 0.5%.