With 706,814 passenger movements recorded, September was another busy month for Malta International Airport.

It was the third consecutive month during which more than 700,000 passengers were welcomed by the airport team.

September’s traffic brought the peak holiday season to a close with more than 2.2 million passenger movements, making this three-month stretch the best quarter in the airport’s history.

Translating into an upturn of 12.8% over 2017, much of September’s traffic growth could be attributed to an increase in aircraft movements (+12.5%) and seat capacity (+14.1%) which stemmed from an enhanced summer flight schedule. September’s seat load factor, which measures the success rate of airlines in filling up available seats, stood at 85.7%.

The United Kingdom continued to top the list of Malta International Airport’s top markets, followed by Italy, Germany, France and Spain. While four of these markets experienced double-digit growth, traffic from Germany dropped 7.2%, following the introduction of a reduced schedule by TUI cruises.

While Rome Fiumicino topped the list of most popular airports in July and August, in September it was knocked off the top spot by London Gatwick’s 40,763 passenger movements.