September
became the third consecutive month to register more than half a million
passenger movements this year with a total of 531,962 passengers welcomed at
Malta IAP. This translates to an increase of 5.8% over the same month in 2015.
September's
upturn was bolstered by improved connectivity to the Maltese islands throughout
the summer. Seat capacity, which indicates the number of seats available to
Malta, registered a 4.2% rise over last year. Moreover, at 87.5%, September’s
seat load factor experienced a growth of 1.3%,
indicating that airlines were very efficient in filling up these available
seats.
Malta's
top drivers of traffic remain the U.K., Italy, Germany, France and Spain, with
all five markets registering varying degrees of growth ranging from 2% to 14%.
The growth of the French market mainly stems from an increased capacity to one
of France's major airports, Paris-Orly. Furthermore, September marks Spain's
third consecutive appearance among Malta IAP's top five
markets, following added flights on the Madrid route.
Although
they did not secure a spot among the top five markets last month, both Poland
and Switzerland experienced a remarkable hike in passenger movements compared
to 2015, amounting to 36% and 14%, respectively.
Up until
the Sep. 30th, Malta IAP hosted 3,894,040 passengers
– a growth of 7.5% over last year. Aircraft movements grew by 2.4% while seat
capacity increased by 5.3%. The seat load factor also rose to 83.4% compared to
81.7% last year. (Source: maltairport.com, Oct-2016)
