Malta International Airport continued to register growth in January but at an expected slower pace, serving 366,015 passengers.

In a company announcement, the airport said that following several months of robust growth, January’s modest 4% increase in passenger numbers was observed alongside a 9.9% increase in aircraft movements and a rise of 7.9% in seat capacity. Seat load factor (SLF) for the month stood at 69%.

Within the top five markets, Spain registered an increase of 87.2% and France grew by a healthy 12%.

The performance of the Spanish and French markets indicated that the joint traffic diversification strategy of Malta International Airport, the Tourism Ministry for Tourism and the Malta Tourism Authority was bearing fruit, in that it stimulated newer markets to gain momentum just as legacy markets were reaching maturity.

January in numbers.

The Iberian Peninsula constituted one such new market and, in fact, the Seville, Malaga and Barcelona routes, which were introduced by two airlines in summer, were all being operated during the winter months.

In January, Malta International Airport’s traditional top driver of passenger traffic, the United Kingdom (-3.2%) was outperformed by the Italian market (-0.8%), by 604 passenger movements, and followed by the German market (-8.3%).

Outside the top five markets, traffic from Hungary was up a noteworthy 42.4%. This surge could be attributed to the extension of the Budapest route from summer into winter. The encouraging results being registered by the Hungarian market were expected to be further reinforced through the introduction of a flight to Debrecen in summer.