The FINANCIAL — September was the third month in a row this year to have seen more than 500,000 passengers passing through Malta International Airport, creating a three-month record streak that had never been seen before.
For the first time ever, more than 1.6 million passengers travelled through the airport in just three months: July, August and September. This number is equivalent to the population of the Italian island, Sardinia.
With a total of 502,823 passengers travelling through the airport last month, this marks an 8.6% rise over the number of passengers at Malta International Airport when compared to September 2014.
The average seat load factor for the month, which measures the number of filled seats on every flight, rose marginally to 85.8% last month. The increase in passengers for September is relative to the 8.5% rise in seat capacity over last year. Aircraft movements also registered a 10.8% growth, which is mostly attributed to the new seat capacity secured this year with the addition of new airlines operating to and from Malta, according to Malta International Airport.
“Despite the fact that the peak season is now behind us, we are still witnessing a steady flow of passengers here at Malta International Airport with another record-breaking September. We are optimistic about the forthcoming winter schedule and are now actively working on securing new capacity for summer 2016,” said Malta International Airport’s CEO Alan Borg.
Traffic Variations
The top 5 markets remain the UK, Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Significant growth was registered on British and Italian routes with an increase of 7.4% and 12.9% respectively. German passengers recorded a drop of 4.4% due to fewer aircraft movements to Frankfurt and Munich while the French market marked a marginal decrease of 1.5%. Traffic to and from Spain was reduced by 10% due to a reduction in seats on the Barcelona and Gerona routes.
Outside of the top five markets, other destinations are registering noteworthy growth – traffic to and from Turkey has more than doubled over September 2014, while new traffic from Switzerland and Poland have generated 26% and 33% growth respectively.
Year Round-up
Up until the 30th of September, Malta International Airport hosted 3,623,663 passengers – a growth of 7% over last year. Aircraft movements grew by 5.7% while seat capacity increased by 4.7%. The seat load factor also rose to 81.3% compared to 79.6% last year.
Cargo & Mail
In September the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased by 8.9%, and cargo and mail increased by 1.5%.
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