Malta International Airport plc - March Traffic Results

On 8 April 2020, Malta International Airport plc published the March 2020 traffic results showing a drop of 64.5% in passenger movements to just under 170,000 reflecting the extraordinary impact from the global spread of the ‘COVID-19’ which also led to the temporary ban of all inbound commercial flights as from 21 March 2020. The extensive travel restrictions also led to a decrease of 46.6% in aircraft movements and a 48.1% contraction in seat capacity. Moreover, the seat load factor tumbled to 55.6% compared to 81.3% recorded in March 2019.

The announcement also noted that travel bans announced in the second week of March directly impacted four of MIA’s top five markets – namely Germany (-75.4%), Italy (-87.4%), France (-62.4%) and Spain (-63.6%). Meanwhile, MIA’s largest market – the UK – experienced a 53.5% decline in passenger numbers.

Providing feedback on the current situation, MIA’s CEO Mr Alan Borg explained that “the ‘COVID-19’ pandemic has presented us with extraordinary circumstances, and we are doing our utmost to make the best use of our resources and adapt. At around this time, we would usually be preparing for the busy summer months ahead but, this year, we are focusing on getting through these times as Malta Airport remains open solely to facilitate essential flights.”

2019/20 Winter Season

During the winter season covering the period from November 2019 to March 2020, MIA registered a drop of 4.4% in passenger movements to 1.9 million compared to 2.07 million in the previous corresponding period as the strong growth of 13.5% (+215,600 passenger movements) registered between November 2019 and February 2020 was outweighed by the sharp contraction in March 2020 (-308,000 passenger movements).