Over 465,480 people travelled through the Malta International Airport last month - exceeding the 400,000-passenger mark in January for the first time since the COVID pandemic shuttered airports in 2020. 

The MIA said in a statement passenger movements in the first month of the year registered an upswing of 22.7 per cent over 2023, with traffic peaking on January 6.

The day brought the hectic holiday travel season to a close, as 151 flights carried 23,923 passengers to and from MIA.

Aircraft movement totalled 3,511 in January, corresponding to a 23.4 per cent growth when compared with the same month in 2023.

While seat capacity increased by 27.4 per cent over the reference year, load factor registered a drop of 2.8 percentage points, as average occupancy on flights stood at 74 per cent.  

The top driver of traffic for January was Italy (+24 per cent over 2023) with a market share of almost 23 per cent, followed by the United Kingdom (+23 per cent), Poland (+59 per cent), Germany (+30 per cent) and France (-20 per cent). 

The most significant growth was observed in the Polish market, which has continued to grow steadily over the past years, overtaking Spain, France and Germany to become MIA’s third-largest market in January 2024.

Improved frequencies on flights to Polish destinations operated by Ryanair and Wizz Air for the winter season led the market to grow by 59 per cent year-on-year, with the Polish market accounting for some 10% per cent of all passenger movements last month.