MIA registers 16.8% traffic increase; expects 6.77 million passengers by end 2018

Malta International Airport (MIA) estimates that 6.77 million passengers will pass through its doors in 2018, a growth of 13 per cent over the figures of the previous years.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, CEO Alan Borg said that traffic had grown by 16.8 per cent, prompting MIA to revise its initial forecast. The growth is the highest among the airport’s competitors, with only Greece registering a relatively similar growth of 13.9 per cent.

Malta also surpassed Greece in terms of increased connectivity, registering a 219-per cent increase over the past decade compared to Greece’s 173 per cent. MIA ranked fourth behind Sochi, Seville and Larnaca’s airports in connectivity increases between over the past year.

With the increase in traffic comes an increase in passengers, and there were just under 430,000 more passengers in the first half of this year than there were in the same period last year. The increase was split fairly equally over the year, with double-figure percentage increases registered each month.

The top passenger markets remain the United Kingdom (25%) Italy (21%) and Germany (13%), followed by passengers from France, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Turkey, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The highest percentage increase of passengers was found in Spain (27%) and Poland (23%), while Belgium registered a five-per cent decrease in passengers.

London Gatwick remained the most popular outbound destination, followed by Rome and Frankfurt. Low-cost airline Ryanair topped the airline charts, carrying 1.1 million passengers to Malta from its various destinations, while Air Malta followed with 894,000 passengers. Lowcost airlines Jet2 and Wizzair registered the largest increase in passengers coming to Malta, doubling their tally for the same period last year.

MIA is also hopeful this growth will continue in the upcoming winter with a number of airlines either extending the new routes they have introduced for the current summer, and other airlines increasing the frequency of some of their more popular routes.

The airport shall also be making a number of investments, including a new apron. This multi-million euro project will kick off immediately and once completed will provide space to accommodate either seven Code C aircraft – the type used by major airlines such a Ryanair and Air Malta and which makes up 98 per cent of the traffic Malta receives – or four Code E aircraft – such as the Boeing 777 which is utilised by Emirates.

Besides this, work on a new multi-storey car-park will commence in October, and once completed this will provide a total of 1,300 parking spaces along with a dedicated car rental area. Furthermore, the roof of the car park will be covered with photovoltaic panels in the hope of creating a more environmentally friendly building.

The most significant improvement, however, will likely be a €40 million terminal extension, designed to mitigate the bottlenecks which currently exist, designs for which will be finalised by the end of the year. The project will see a lateral expansion of the terminal to what is currently a taxi rank. The designs will focus on adding more check-in desks and departure gates, more seating for patrons and more dining options, while also ensuring the capacity to cater for a future growth in passenger numbers.

The chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), Gavin Gulia, also addressed the press conference, attributing the strength of this industry to the synergy between the MIA and the MTA. He spoke of the importance of further diversifying Malta’s tourism product and in developing additional routes between Malta and other destinations. He stated that the MTA would continue working with the MIA to face the challenges that this volatile industry could present from time to time.

Conspicuous in his absence was Minister for Tourism Konrad Mizzi.