Malta airport posts soaring figures

A record number of air passenger movements was registered in August, representing a 13 per cent increase over the same period last year, Malta International Airport announced yesterday.

Passenger movements in August amounted to 427,924, an increase of 50,641 compared to August 2009, the MIA said.

Seat capacity also hit a record 536,495, up 10 per cent, or 49,191 seats, over the same month a year earlier.

“Yet again, MIA’s monthly passenger movements in August exceeded the 400,000 mark while seat capacity has surpassed the half million mark for the second consecutive month,” airport CEO Julian Jaeger said.

Such positive results were made possible through the hard work of all stakeholders, he said.

Aircraft movements increased by 8.7 per cent and the average seat load factor rose by a 2.4 percentage points to 79.8 per cent.

The maximum take-off weight was 9.7 per cent higher than that registered in August last year but cargo and mail was 0.4 per cent below that recorded in 2009.

An increase was also registered from the core markets: Spain (31 per cent), Italy (28.6 per cent), France (13.7 per cent), the UK (6.8 per cent) and Germany (5.3 per cent).