September was the third consecutive month during which Malta International Airport saw more than 800,000 passengers, the airport said on Wednesday.

It said in a statement that traffic for September totalled 812,176 passenger movements, translating into an increase of 6.5% over 2019 figures.

This growth was registered on the back of an increase of 3% in seat capacity compared to 2019. Despite this increase, at 89.2%, the monthly seat load factor (SLF) remained high, indicating that travel demand did not wane.

There were no surprises in the top five markets, with Italy remaining at the top, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. Cumulatively, the top five markets accounted for 66 per cent of September’s total traffic. 

While Italy (+48.7%) and France (+46.4%) registered significant growth over 2019, the United Kingdom (-19.1%) and Germany (-23.8%) fared worse than they had in 2019, and Spain registered a minimal drop of 0.1%. 

Winter flight schedule

The airport has published its new flight schedule for the upcoming winter season.

The schedule features direct flights to 30 markets, and several already-popular routes, including Vienna, Marseille, Edinburgh, Warsaw and Zagreb, will benefit from increased flight frequencies.