The month of May was again significant in terms of passenger growth with Malta International Airport registering an increase of 17.5% in passenger movements on the scheduled and non-scheduled flight operations.
The total passenger movements in May 2008 increased by 45,473 for a total of 305,777 movements whilst aircraft movements increased by 2.3% for a total of 2,697. The seat capacity increased by 9,928 (2.4%) whilst the seat load factor also increased by over 9% to an average of 73%. Incoming and outgoing cargo and mail handled at MIA was of 1,627 tonnes, an increase of 7.5% when compared to May 2007.
A further analysis shows that MIA witnessed significant increases from the core markets as well as from secondary countries. The UK, Germany and Italy increased by 5.2%, 41.3% and 11.8% respectively whilst Spain registered a drastic increase with 10,503 passenger movements. Furthermore, passenger movements increased from France (25.3%), The Netherlands (21.7%), Belgium (18.7%), Austria (19.2%) and Switzerland (50.7%). The busiest day last month was Tuesday 13th May with 12,982 passengers and 105 aircraft handled at MIA.
Traffic – January to May 2008
MIA registered an increase of 154,715 passenger movements (+16.4%) during the first five months of 2008 and an increase of 563 aircraft movements (+5.9%) on its scheduled and non-scheduled traffic. The seat capacity increased by 7.8% whereas the average seat load factor also improved by almost 5%. Cargo and Mail activity increased by 12% during the period January-May 2008 for a total of 7,719 tonnes handled.
Passenger movements from the three main markets – the UK, Italy and Germany – increased by 4.4%, 17.1% and 35.5% respectively between January and May 2008.