Maltese air passengers down 5.8 per cent

The number of Maltese nationals who left the island by air in November dropped by 5.8 per cent when compared to the same month in 2004, figures released by the National Statistics Office yesterday show.

A total of 12,534 Maltese nationals travelled overseas last November, including 12,030 passengers who departed by air.

The bulk - 94.8 per cent - of those who flew out of Malta stayed abroad for under six months.

The most frequent destination last November was the United Kingdom, accounting for 22.8 per cent of the total number of Maltese travelling abroad by air. This was followed by Italy (21.5 per cent), Tunisia (7.6 per cent), France (6.3 per cent), Germany (5.9 per cent), the Netherlands (2.6 per cent) and Spain (2.5 per cent).

Air departures in the January-November period to the UK decreased by 0.9 per cent.

Other decreases were registered in Maltese air passengers departing to France (15.6 per cent) and Italy (11.2 per cent). On the other hand, there was increased traffic to Germany (13.7 per cent), the Netherlands (16.3 per cent), Spain (8.9 per cent), Tunisia (4.9 per cent) and a group of "other" markets (1.2 per cent).

The number of Maltese passengers departing by air in the first 11 months of 2005 totalled 182,114, a decrease of 2.1 per cent over the same period a year earlier. Of these, 97.7 per cent spent less than six months away from Malta. On the other hand, 0.5 per cent of Maltese passengers travelling by air spent 12 months and over away from the Maltese islands.