Passenger numbers at Malta International Airport surpassed 2019 levels in January, a first since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With 379,335 passenger movements in the first month of the year, January saw a 3.6 per cent increase over January 2019. 

However, the figure was still 9.3 per cent below the monthly record established in January 2020, when the airport registered 418,096 passenger movements.

In a press release announcing the January passenger statistics, MIA noted with satisfaction that the figures represented a “significant milestone” in its post-pandemic recovery. 

But it also tempered enthusiasm, saying it expects pent-up demand to “start levelling off as the year wears on.”Almost 77 per cent of seats on available flights to and from MIA were occupied in January. 

Italy remains the dominant market, with just over 22.5 per cent (85,618) of all passenger movements to and from MIA in January. In second place was the UK, which registered 58,836 passenger movements, followed by France, Poland and Germany.

Malta’s struggle to attract German visitors appears no sign of subsiding, however. The German market has been a laggard in terms of recovery and in January fell even further behind, as it was overtaken by Poland which saw an impressive 92 per cent of seats occupied. 

MIA was connected to 31 different destinations in January.