Almost nine million passengers flew through Malta International Airport last year, a growth of 15 per cent compared to 2023.
Last year’s results marked the airport’s third-largest-ever annual growth, MIA CEO Alan Borg told a news conference on Thursday.
Much of that growth came in the off-season, as passenger traffic in the winter months increased by a fifth. Foot traffic in summer, on the other hand, increased by 12 per cent.
Summer, however, was still significantly the busiest time for the Malta airports. A total of 983,182 passengers passed through in August, the airport’s busiest month.
Italy, the UK, Germany, France, and Poland were the most popular destinations that flew to and from the MIA.
Borg said the airport expects to see an increase from the 8.96 million who visited Malta in 2024 in the new year.
MIA is expecting a total of 9.3 million passengers in 2025, Borg said.
“A positive outlook for the first quarter of 2025, together with a summer schedule that is expected to connect us to 109 destinations, prime us for further growth this year,” he said.
Much of 2024’s growth is down to low-cost carriers, which transport more than two-thirds of passengers at the airport.
Low-cost airlines like Ryan Air and EasyJet collectively captured four per cent more of the total market share in 2024.
Direct flights to US unlikely
Asked about a possible direct intercontinental connection to the US, Borg said that while talks are ongoing, a direct flight across the continent is unlikely to happen any time soon.
“One has to look at the costs that an airline from America has to take on to fly to Malta which are significant.
“There are talks with American airlines but the consensus is that the market needs to be larger for a direct connection to make sense”.
However, the number of US tourists visiting Malta is increasing every year.
Malta Tourism Authority CEO Carlo Micallef said the significant growth of foot traffic at the airport was good news, especially as a large portion of that growth is taking place in the winter months.
“Our strategy is to increase the number of tourists coming in winter and keep summer tourism numbers stable,” Micallef told Times of Malta.
He added that tourists are also on average spending more.
Micallef said the fact that passengers were increasingly using low-cost airlines to come to Malta did not mean they would not spend a significant amount of money on arrival.