MIA's revenue last year increased by 10.5% over 2009, the company's annual general meeting heard today.

The meeting approved a final net dividend of €0.06,5 per share which represents a total payment of €8,794,500.

Welcoming shareholders, Malta International Airport chairman Andreas Schadenhofer said that from a financial perspective, the company's performance last year was a record one, thanks to higher passenger numbers as well as efforts to control expenditure.

Chief Executive Officer Julian Jaeger referred to the issue of privatisation saying this prociess led to "€160 million to state funds through the sale of shares, a total of €52 million invested in capital projects since privatisation in 2002, enhancing the amenities and infrastructure at MIA; up to €8 million per year in taxes and dividends paid to government; and up to €1.5 million per year to the marketing fund of the Malta Tourism Authority."

He referred to media reports on airport charges and said these had remained unchanged for the past five years.

"MIA does not have the most expensive charges in Europe, and is definitively within the European average in so far as its airport charges are concerned.

"Obviously there are cheaper airports, but circumstances are different," he said.

On the restructuring of Air Malta, he said that MIA was following this process very closely as it was aware of the crucial role the airline played for its own operations as well as for the national economy.

He asserted that "MIA is confident that this process will be positive and MIA is willing to support it in an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory way; and to this effect, discussions are already underway with Air Malta management."

When discussing the financial results, Mr Jaeger noted that although major controls were made on the company's cost-base, MIA's utilities bill went up by 59 per cent over 2009, and this had impacted the overall cost-control.