Malta International Airport has enjoyed an increase of more than 600,000 passenger movements between April and October, considered as the summer period for the aviation industry.

In a statement on the Malta Stock Exchange, MIA said it had 4,249,321 passenger movements in summer. Growth in passenger numbers was observed in parallel with an upturn of 13.3 per cent in aircraft movements and an increase of 16.1 per cent in seat capacity, mainly stemming from an enhanced flight schedule for the season.

Moreover, at 85%, seat load factor for the seven-month period remained unchanged from last year.

“Last summer was our busiest yet on more levels than one. Apart from our ongoing Terminal Reconfiguration Project, we hosted over four million passengers in a span of seven months, the fastest rate ever at which traffic through our airport has grown,” CEO Alan Borg said. The top drivers of passenger traffic were the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Spain.

Growing by 9.6% over last year, the UK accounted for 1,025,055 passengers, which is almost a quarter of the airport’s total traffic for summer. The other four markets all registered double-digit growth ranging between 14% and 32.%, with Spain’s increase being the most noteworthy.

Having welcomed over 5.2 million passengers for the year to date, the airport’s focus has now shifted to achieving the best results for winter. On the last weekend of October, the airport unveiled its new winter schedule featuring 66 destinations, five of which are new.

Traffic through Malta International Airport in October grew by 15.4%  to reach 596,648 passenger movements, on the back of a 14.7% increase in aircraft movements and a 16.4% increase in seat capacity.