Airport passenger movements during September decreased by 1.2% when compared to the same month in 2007, the MIA said this afternoon.

It said that a total of 337,730 passengers moved through the airport last month, down by 4,042 over September 2007.

Aircraft movements decreased by 3.8% for a total of 2,740.

Seat capacity in September was down by 4,677 (-1.1%) and the seat load factor also decreased, albeit marginally by 0.1% to an average of 76.7%.

Cargo and mail handled at MIA during the month of September was of 1,421 tonnes, a decrease of 7.2% over last year.

MIA said there was a drop of 8,110 passengers from the UK last month (-6.4%) while passengers from Italy and France decreased by 2.9% and 4.1% respectively. The German market maintained the same levels whilst the Spanish market continued to grow with almost double the passengers passing through the airport when compared to September 2007.

Despite last month's negative trend, the figures for the 2008-to-date period still show an increase of 180,849 passenger movements (+7.8%) from January to September this year, and an increase of 217 aircraft movements (+1%) on scheduled and non-scheduled traffic.

The seat capacity has increased by 4.3%, whereas the seat load factor also improved to an average of 72.7%. Cargo and Mail activity increased by 3.4% during the period January-September 2008 for a total of 13,563 tonnes handled.

Passenger movements from the UK during these nine months decreased by 9,802 (-1.1%) whilst those from Germany increased by 18.3%. The other main markets – Italy, France and Spain have still registered an increase of 6.4%, 11.6% and 180% respectively.