Passenger movements at Malta Airport last month reached an all-time record of 461,153, breaking the record achieved in July.

A 7.9 per cent increase (33,578) in passenger movements was registered when compared to the same month last year. Seat capacity has also hit an all-time record of 536,632, an increase of 7.5 per cent. The average seat load factor  increased by 0.2 percentage points to reach a record 85.9 per cent.

Aircraft movements grew by 6.6 per cent over the corresponding period last year, while the maximum take-off weight was 8.6 per cent higher than that registered in August last year. Another positive result was achieved in cargo and mail with a 14.6 per cent increase over the same month in 2011.

All the core markets registered increases with Germany and France growing by 14.7 per cent and 14.6 per cent, respectively, whereas Spain and Italy recorded an increase of 6.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent, respectively. Passenger movements from the United Kingdom were more or less the same with a 0.2 per cent increase.

January – August 2012

The results for the first eight months in terms of passenger movements, show a 3.7 per cent increase when compared to the same period last year, totalling 2,487,903 passenger movements.

The increase of 2.8 percentage points in the average seat load factor was the main driver of this result, whilst the seat capacity and aircraft movements remained more or less unchanged; the former registering no change whereas the latter registered a 0.1% drop for January to August 2012.