Ryanair flight bound to Malta IAP diverts to Catania-Fontanarossa airport

A Ryanair Boeing B737-800 (EI-ESM), operating flight FR-6695 from Edinburgh (U.K) to Malta International Airport, had to divert to Catania-Fontanarossa airport (Sicily) this morning because of bad weather over Malta. The flight was due at Malta IAP at 11.40 a.m. The aircraft continued with its flight to Malta IAP later on in the afternoon. (27-Dec-2013)

Ash cloud forces Air Malta to cancel three Catania flights

Air Malta has cancelled three flights to Catania following the closure of the city’s airport due to volcanic ash from Mount Etna. Yesterday’s flight KM642/3 and today’s flights KM640/1 and KM642/3 were cancelled. The airline said that this afternoon it will operate an extra flight to Palermo and organise land transport between the two airports. Other passengers from Catania this evening will be re-routed to sea passenger services. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 16-Dec-2013)

Air Malta A320 struck by lightning on approach to Tel Aviv airport

An Air Malta flight to Tel Aviv (opw Airbus A320 '9H-AEO') was this morning hit by lightning during approach to the airport. No one was injured and the aircraft landed safely in Tel Aviv, Air Malta said. 

A spokesman for Air Malta said it was fairly normal in commercial aviation for aircraft to be struck by lightning and aircraft were protected and certified in this regard. Passengers, crew and aircraft were never in any danger. He added that standard procedure entailed that the aircraft is checked after the flight.

So Air Malta was planning to operate a relief aircraft this evening with a team on engineers to service the aircraft, check all systems and certify it fit for flight. This aircraft is expected to arrive in Tel Aviv at around midnight. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 13-Dec-2013)

M.I.A. plc releases traffic results for November 2013

Airport traffic in November grew by 17.8% compared to the same month last year, extending this year’s record streak to the first full month of the winter season. 

These results were achieved because of an increase in seat capacity by 18% while retaining the same seat load factor. Seat capacity is the number of seats available across all served routes, while the seat load factor refers to the amount of seats taken up as a percentage of the availability.

 "A total of 249,133 passengers were hosted by Malta IAP last month, breaking all previous records for November. This continues to confirm a very positive trend experienced throughout 2013, with one record month after another, even in the first full month of the winter season," said Malta Airport CEO M. Klaushofer. 

The airport hosted more than 3.8 million passengers from January to November which marks a 10.4% increase over the same period last year. The same period also saw a seat capacity increase of 10.2%.

November's success was in part due to massive growth in some major markets. Traffic from the U.K. grew by14.9 % while traffic from Italy grew by 25 %. Traffic also increased in Spain, by 37.2%, and Germany, by 5 %.

Meanwhile, aircraft movements increased by 18.1% in November compared to the same period last year. The maximum take-off weight increased by 15.5% and cargo mail increased by 2.2%.

(Source: maltairport.com, 5-Dec-2013)