MIA reported its best ever April today, with passenger movements last month growing by 1.4 per cent to reach 304,198. It was the second consecutive April which hit the 300,000 mark.

In a statement, MIA said this was in spite of 3.3 per cent drop in seat capacity for the month.

The average seat load factor was on the increase when compared to April last year, reaching 76.5 per cent - an increase of 3.5 percentage points, while aircraft movements were 2.9 per cent less than those in the corresponding period last year.

The Maximum Take-Off Weight  was 0.6 per cent higher, while cargo and mail was 22.9 per cent higher than that recorded during the same month last year.

The French, Spanish, German and Italian markets registered increases of 4.1 per cent, 3.3 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, whereas the UK market registered a decrease of 0.8 per cent.

Passenger movements between January and April decreased by 2.6 per cent, with aircraft movements registering a decrease of seven per cent over the same first four months of 2011.

The seat capacity decreased by 7.9 per cent whereas the average seat load factor increased by 3.9 percentage points over the first four months of 2011.

In the same period, the MTOW decreased by 5.4 per cent whereas cargo and mail increased by five per cent over the same period in 2011.

* compared to same period last year

Note: With the exception of cargo and mail and MTOW, all figures relate to scheduled & non-scheduled movements, excluding general aviation.