MIA welcomes over 1.6 million passengers between July and September

The Malta International Airport has termed this summer as the best yet, with over 500,000 every month in July, August and September.

The months totalled over 1.6 million passengers, and the three months presented a record streak.

“With a total of 502,823 passengers travelling through the airport last month, this marks an 8.6% rise over the number of passengers at Malta International Airport when compared to September 2014,” a statement reads.

The company added that the average seat load factor for the month, which measures the number of filled seats on every flight, rose marginally to 85.8% last month and that the increase in passengers for September is relative to the 8.5% rise in seat capacity over last year.

MIA reported that aircraft movements also registered a 10.8% growth, which is mostly attributed to the new seat capacity secured this year with the addition of new airlines operating to and from Malta.
 
“Despite the fact that the peak season is now behind us, we are still witnessing a steady flow of passengers here at Malta International Airport with another record-breaking September,” MIA CEO Alan Borg said.

“We are optimistic about the forthcoming winter schedule and are now actively working on securing new capacity for summer 2016.”
 
MIA said that the top 5 markets remain the UK, Italy, Germany, France and Spain, with significant growth registered on British and Italian routes, with an increase of 7.4% and 12.9% respectively.

“German passengers recorded a drop of 4.4% due to fewer aircraft movements to Frankfurt and Munich while the French market marked a marginal decrease of 1.5%,” the statement reads adding that traffic to and from Spain was reduced by 10% due to a reduction in seats on the Barcelona and Gerona routes.
 
MIA reports that outside of the top five markets, other destinations are registering noteworthy growth with traffic to and from Turkey more than doubling over September 2014, while new traffic from Switzerland and Poland generated 26% and 33% growth respectively.
 
The company added that up until the 30th of September, Malta International Airport hosted 3,623,663 passengers, which marks a 7% growth over last year.

“Aircraft movements grew by 5.7% while seat capacity increased by 4.7%. The seat load factor also rose to 81.3% compared to 79.6% last year.”