More than 300,000 passengers used Malta International Airport last month with the figure for the month being exceeded for the first time.

Hosting 301,289 passengers, the airport’s traffic for the month increased by 27.3% over 2016.

This growth was registered on the back of an upturn in both aircraft movements and seat capacity, which grew by 22.1% and 27.7%, respectively. Enhanced connectivity to markets such as Germany, Spain and Italy was an important contributing factor to this growth.

Moreover, seat load factor also increased by 1 percentage point to reach 72.7%, indicating that airlines were more efficient in filling up available seats, as more tourists chose to travel to Malta.

The United Kingdom, Italy and Germany were the top three contributors of traffic at MIA, with all three registering double-digit growth.

Accounting for 15,784 and 13,903 passenger movements, Belgium and Spain, were the fourth and fifth top drivers of traffic to Malta in January.

Looking at the top five airports delivering traffic to Malta, newcomer Catania Fontanarossa International Airport established itself at the top of the list, following the introduction of added flight frequencies to this airport.

The maximum take-off weight at the airport also experienced a 26.8% growth to reach 104,108 tonnes and the weight of cargo and mail climbed to 1,305 tonnes from the 1,185 tonnes registered in January 2016.