Travel bug alert! Over 7 million passengers travelled through Malta’s airport in 2019
MIA are calling it a record year.
It has been quite a year for Malta International Airport (MIA) as it closed off 2019 with a record 7,310,289 passenger movements. This shows an increase of 7.4 per cent when compared to 2018, the achievement of this full-year result marks the tenth year of traffic growth for the airport. #GodBless
This rise in passenger numbers was observed in parallel with a 7.3 per cent increase in seat capacity. Measuring the occupancy of seats available on flights to and from Malta International Airport, seat load factor (SLF) remained unchanged from the previous year to stand at a healthy 81.8 per cent. Obvi, uwx! We’ve all got the travel bug and what’s not to love about the beauty of the Maltese Islands?
More routes and a new airline
This solid full-year performance was partly thanks to improved flight schedules for both the winter and the summer months. During 2019, in fact, MIA welcomed a new airline, inaugurated 18 new routes spanning three continents, and introduced other developments aimed at further enhancing the islands’ connectivity, particularly in the off-peak months.
Peak travelling months
While growth of 7.2 per cent was posted in the winter and shoulder months, the peak summer months saw a marginally higher increase in passenger movements of 7.6 per cent. With the summer months in full swing, many kids on holiday and a calmer work schedule, people are more likely to fit in getaways in summer. We know we did!
According to the MIA, the fastest-growing months of 2019 were December (+15.2 per cent), April (+10.5 per cent), June (+8.8 per cent), and October (+8.8 per cent), with three of these top performers being winter and shoulder months. On the other hand, the largest contributor to full-year traffic was the month of August, registering just over 823,000 passenger movements.
Which countries were top destinations?
The top drivers of traffic for the year were the United Kingdom (+2.2 per cent), Italy (+3.4 per cent), Germany (+9.0 per cent), France (+10.8 per cent) and Spain (+17.3 per cent), all of which benefitted from route developments that continued to reinforce their popularity during 2019.
With another successful year having been brought to a close, Malta International Airport will soon be publishing its traffic forecast for 2020.