Air Malta traffic down in June

Air Malta saw its passenger numbers drop by 6.9 percent in June as the airline industry battled the fallout of the recession.

Figures issued today by the Association of European Airlines show that Air Malta carried 143,700 passengers in June with a load factor of 63.6 percent.

Over the first half of the year the number of passengers was 648,000 down 7.2 percent over the first half of last year. The load factor over the six months was 64 percent.

The AEA said that passenger numbers on its member airlines was down 6.5 percent in June compared to June 2008. Intra-European traffic was down 6.3 percent while the North Atlantic traffic was down 7%. The hardest hit market was between Europe and the Far East, at -10.7%.

Seat capacity in June was down almost 5%, confirming that carriers have been reducing frequency.