Malta International Airport handled more than 200,000 passengers in January, registering an increase of 4.8 per cent over the same month last year.

“January was an excellent follow-up to 2014, which was our best year ever in terms of passenger numbers. We take a lot of pride in helping to boost traffic to the island, particularly in the slower winter months, so these figures are very encouraging,” said acting CEO Alan Borg.

In all, last month saw a total of 208,903 passengers passing through the airport, when compared to the 199,354 who were welcomed during January in 2014.

This result was achieved with fewer aircraft movements and only a marginal increase in seat capacity of 1 per cent, thanks to a significant increase in seat load factor, which measures the percentage of filled seats on each flight. The seat load factor grew to 69.2 per cent, compared to 66.7 per cent in 2014.

Growth was registered in most of the airport’s main markets starting with the UK market increasing by 1.5 per cent. The largest contributors to the growth were Italy and France with increases of 13.2 per cent 15.8 per cent respectively. The German market shrank by 5.6 per cent due to decreased capacity.

Traffic to and from Turkey marked the highest growth rate, with a substantial 89.5 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. More than 6,745 passengers travelled between Malta and Turkey in January.

“Besides boosting passenger traffic, we are also focused on maintaining an excellent passenger experience at the airport, which is why we are constantly making significant upgrades, such as our recent €2m investment in expanding the terminal building in the non-Schengen arrivals area,” said ad interim CEO Alan Borg.

Malta International Airport recently announced that it has the third most international connections among 136 airports in its class, with over 50 destinations served in its winter schedule.