MIA off to a flying start with January registering 27.3% increase

● January exceeds the 300,000passenger mark for the first time ● 27.3% traffic growth in January when compared to 2016 ● Enhanced connectivity to Germany, Spain, and Italy contributing factor to January’s growth

The year is off to a flying start at Malta International Airport, with January having exceeded the 300,000-passenger mark for the first time.

With 301,289 passengers in January, airport traffic for the month increased by 27.3 per cent over 2016. This means that the airport welcomed 64,699 passengers more than it did in its first month last year, which figure surpasses the combined population of Malta’s three biggest towns.

This growth was registered on the back of an upturn in both aircraft movements and seat capacity, which grew by 22.1 per cent and 27.7 per cent respectively. Enhanced connectivity to markets such as Germany, Spain and Italy was an important contributing factor to this growth. Moreover, seat load factor (SLF) also increased by one percentage point to reach 72.7 per cent, indicating that airlines were more efficient in filling up available seats, as more tourists chose to travel to Malta.

The United Kingdom, Italy and Germany were the top three contributors of traffic at Malta International Airport, with all three registering double-digit growth.

Accounting for 15,784 and 13,903 passenger movements, Belgium and Spain, were the fourth and fifth top drivers of traffic to Malta during the month of January. Looking at the top five airports delivering traffic to Malta, one notes that newcomer Catania Fontanarossa International Airport established itself at the top of the list, following the intro- duction of added flight frequencies to this airport.

The maximum take-off weight (MTOW) at the airport also experienced a 26.8 per cent growth to reach 104,108 tonnes and the weight of cargo and mail climbed to 1,305 tonnes from the 1,185 tonnes registered in January 2016.