Malta International Airport plc - August Traffic Results

On 4 September, Malta International Airport plc published its August traffic results revealing a 6.1% increase in passenger movements to an all-time monthly high of 585,218 passengers – representing an average growth of 1,000 passengers per day. The growth in passenger traffic in August could be attributed to the 0.5 percentage point increase in the seat load factor to 87% as well as a 5.6% increase in seat capacity.

The largest growth in August emanated from the Italian market with an 11.9% increase when compared to August 2014 on the back of increased capacity on routes to and from Catania, Linate, and Rome. Passengers from the UK also increased by 6.1% as the British market retains its position as Malta’s largest tourism market also supported by additional capacity across five UK routes.

Meanwhile, Germany and France registered a marginal drop in passenger numbers, decreasing by 1.5% and 0.4% respectively. Germany’s decrease is attributed to fewer flights to and from Munich. Despite increased traffic on the Madrid and Barcelona routes, the Spanish market also dropped by 7.1%, due to the lost capacity from Seville.

January to August 2015  

During the first eight months of 2015, MIA registered a 6.8% increase in passenger movements to 3.12 million when compared to the same period last year as seat capacity increased by 4.1% and the seat load factor grew by 2 percentage points to 80.7%.

In July, MIA revised upwards its passenger forecast for 2015 to +4.6% to an estimated throughput of 4.5 million passengers. The initial estimate for 2015 was for a growth rate of +2%.