Malta International Airport handled a record 3.11 million passengers who travelled on scheduled and non-scheduled flights in 2008. This translates into an increase of 4.7 % when compared to 2007. With a total of 3,109,868 passenger movements serviced in 2008, the net increase is equivalent to 139,039 passenger movements, which could be attributed to the positive results achieved by Air Malta as well as the performance of the low cost carriers, in particular Ryanair and Easyjet.

Air Malta’s increase in passenger movements exceeded 110,000 whilst Ryanair and Easyjet were each responsible for approximately an additional 170,000 passenger movements.

The overall increase in passenger traffic at European airports was of 0.4% for the period January to November 2008, in comparison Malta International Airport registered a growth of 5.3% for the same period.

Aircraft movements decreased by 1%, however this did not result in a drop in capacity since seat capacity increased by 1.6% due to a rise in the average aircraft size operating to/from Malta. The average seat load factor in 2008 was 72%, compared to 70% in 2007.

All but one of the top 10 markets experienced growth with Italy and Germany registering increases in passenger movements of 3.8% and 12.3% respectively. The major market was the only one that registered a loss, with UK showing a slump of 4.2% in passenger movements when compared to 2007.

Passenger movements during the month of December decreased by 5.5 % when compared to the same month in 2007, with a total of 148,669 movements handled, meaning that the shortfall was of 8,723 passenger movements on the scheduled and non-scheduled flights. Aircraft movements also decreased by 7.5% totaling 1,569.

Cargo and mail handled at MIA during the month of December was 1,582 tonnes, that is a decrease of 6.6% over last year.

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