MIA bracing for drop in passengers after record year

Malta International Airport handled a record 3.1 million passengers in 2008, up by 4.7 percent over the previous year, company officials announced today.

However the outlook for this year is not so rosy, with the company projecting throughput of 2.9 million passengers.

“I would be quite happy if we achieve 2.9 million passengers, given the current international situation” CEO Julian Jaeger said at a press conference.

He said that last year, passenger numbers grew by 21% in the first quarter, 10% in the second and 0.3% in the third, before dropping 6.5% in the fourth as the impact of the financial crisis abroad started to be felt..

He said MIA was also seeing a shift from legacy and charter operations to low cost airlines. Charter operations dropped 9.2% to 21% last year while arrivals on legacy carriers declined from 73% to 69.7%.

Arrivals from the UK dropped by 4.2% but there was growth on the German and Italian routes.