Malta International Airport welcomed 465,482 passengers in the first month of 2024, exceeding the 400,000-passenger mark in January for the first time since 2020.

Passenger movements through Malta International Airport registered an upswing of 22.7% over 2023, with traffic peaking on January 6th. The day brought the hectic holiday travel season to a close, as 151 flights carried 23,923 passengers to and from Malta International Airport.

Aircraft movements totalled a number of 3,511 in January, corresponding to a 23.4% growth when compared with the same month in 2023. While seat capacity increased by 27.4%, load factor registered a drop of 2.8% , as average occupancy on flights stood at 74%.

The top driver of traffic for January was Italy (+24% over 2023) with a market share of almost 23%, followed by the United Kingdom (+23%), Poland (+59%), Germany (+30%) and France (-20%).

The most significant growth was observed in the Polish market, which has continued to grow steadily over the past years, overtaking Spain, France and Germany to become Malta International Airport’s third largest market in January 2024. Improved frequencies on flights to Polish destinations operated by Ryanair and Wizz Air for the winter season led the market to grow by 59% year-on-year, with the Polish market accounting for c. 10% of all passenger movements last month.

Malta Ranks Among Top Performing Airports in Europe for 2023

In a report published by Airports Council International (ACI) earlier this month regarding the full-year performance of airports across Europe for 2023, Malta International Airport ranked among the top five performing airports within the EU+ region.

Outperforming its peers in Spain and Italy, Malta placed fourth after registering full-year traffic growth of 6.7% over 2019. Within the same market segment, Portugal (+12.2%) and Greece (+12.1%) placed first and second, respectively, while Iceland placed third with 6.9% growth.

As Malta’s sole air terminal, Malta International Airport connects the Maltese archipelago to over 100 destinations. In 2023, the airport welcomed 7.8 million passengers, marking a growth of 6.7% in passenger traffic over 2019.

The airport team has led MLA to clinch the title ‘Best Airport in Europe’ for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.