Malta International Airport plc - January Traffic Results

On 9 February 2021, Malta International Airport plc published the January 2021 traffic results showing a drop of 90.7% in passenger traffic to just under 39,000 movements. MIA explained that this was the weakest monthly performance since reopening in July 2020 reflecting the implementation of new travel bans and more stringent requirements in important source markets such as the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium. In fact, the UK dropped to sixth place among MIA’s largest markets, outstripped by Italy, Germany, France, Turkey, and Belgium. MIA also added that during January 2021, it registered significant drops in weekly flight frequencies. Furthermore, changing travel requirements and restrictions also had an impact on overall connectivity, with MIA’s direct connections being limited to just 28 scheduled routes as opposed to 99 scheduled routes operated in January 2020.

MIA referred to the recent update provided by the Airports Council International which is anticipating low air traffic in the first half of 2021 followed by the start of the recovery in Q3 2021 subject to the effective roll-out of vaccinations and the partial lifting of existing travel restrictions.