Malta International Airport plc - June Traffic Results & Updated Forecast

On 23 July, Malta International Airport plc published the June 2015 traffic results revealing yet another record month with 459,280 passenger movements during the month under review, representing an 8.2% increase over the same month in 2014 on the back of a 4.9% increase in seat capacity and a 2.5 percentage point increase in the seat load factor to 81.3%.

January to June 2015

The statistics also reveal that during the first six months of the year, MIA registered a 6.9% increase to a record 1,987,497 passenger movements on the back of a 3.7% growth in seat capacity to over 2.55 million seats as well as a 2.3 percentage point increase in the seat load factor to 77.9%.

The airport operator also stated that passenger numbers from the Italian market grew by 13.7%. Moreover, the German market grew by 9.6% whilst the UK and French market registered more modest increases of 3.7% and 2.8% respectively. During the press conference, the CEO of MIA Alan Borg also highlighted the 24.2% rebound in the Spanish market and stated that the airport operator is working to continue rebuilding the number of passengers from Spain to the peak registered in 2011. Furthermore, Mr Borg also noted the satisfactory performance of Turkish Airlines with a further 69.5% increase in passenger numbers during the first half of 2015.

2015 Forecast

MIA also revealed that given the strong performance during the first six months coupled with expectations of a strong summer and the new routes expected to be deployed in the winter season, it is revising upwards its passenger growth forecast for the year to 4.6% compared to the initial forecast of +2%. As a result, passenger movements at MIA are expected to reach 4.5 million in 2015.