Passenger movements at Malta International Airport (MIA) grew by 5.8% during the month of May reaching 325,000 passengers. Aircraft movements and seat capacity on the other hand were 4.7% and 1.8% lower than that registered during May 2010; however the average seat load factor – which was 5.3 percentage points higher than the same month last year – more than compensated for this decline. Unsurprisingly, the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) was 4.1% lower than the same period last year, whilst cargo and mail registered a 2% drop.

As already declared, this growth – the first single digit figure registered in one month this year – has to be seen in the context of the re-aligning of traffic figures at MIA when compared to the increase in seat capacity which occurred in this same month last year.

The UK, German and French markets grew at a steady pace by 5.5%, 21.3% and 7% respectively, whereas the Spanish and Italian markets registered a decrease of 4% and 12% respectively.

Passenger growth for the period between January and May 2011 has therefore been of 15.3%, whilst aircraft movements registered an increase of 8.1% when compared to the same period in 2010. Seat capacity was 10.5% higher whilst the average seat load factor increased by 2.9 percentage points. In the same period, the MTOW increase was of 6.7% whereas Cargo and Mail decreased by 3.7% over the same period in 2010.

As announced, Malta International Airport will be revising its traffic forecast for 2011 in July.

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