Malta Airport expects to handle more than eight million passengers this year after having welcomed a record 7.8 million in 2023, CEO Alan Borg said on Thursday.

Last year's figure was 6.7% up on 2019, before the onset of Covid-19, and 33% above 2022. 

Borg said that the airport’s bumper year in passengers last year was equivalent to having operated one additional winter month in 2019. 

Comparing performance over the past 10 years, he said passenger numbers had almost doubled since 2013, when four million passengers used the airport. 

Seat load factor was also high last year, with airlines managing to fill 91.4% of their available seats despite inflation, geopolitical conflict and higher fares. 

Borg said that this was a good sign for a resilient industry that retained a healthy appetite for travel despite external factors that may serve as a deterrent to do so. 

Malta was connected to 35 different markets, only losing one connection, a direct flight to Jordan, last year. 

Looking at a round-up of where passengers came to Malta from last year, Italy made up the largest share of the market at 24%, followed by the UK at 18%, Germany at 9%, France at 8% and Poland at 5% respectively. 

London Gatwick was the most popular airport that passengers travelled to and from Malta, followed by Catania, Munich, Rome and Frankfurt. 

More travellers using low-cost airlines

Low-cost airlines carried 60% of travellers while some 38% of passengers opted for legacy airlines and 2% for chartered flights. 

When compared to 2019 numbers, the share of passengers opting for low-cost flights increased by 5%, up from 55%, while legacy airlines saw a dip of 4% from the 42% share the industry recorded four years ago. 

Charter flight traffic saw a negligible drop of 1% in traffic since 2019. 

Borg said that according to records kept by Airports Council International, Malta had outperformed the majority of its competition in Cyprus, Spain and Italy and was only outranked in growth by Portugal and Greece respectively. But some 20% of the Portuguese market is made up of domestic travel.

Ryanair dominating the Malta market

Ryanair dominated the market for travel to Malta, taking up a 46% share of the pie, followed by Air Malta at 28%, Wizz Air at 5%, EasyJet at 4% and Lufthansa at 4%. 

As for the 2024 targets, Borg said that it was likely that MIA would hit the 8 million passenger mark and total revenue is expected to reach €126 million, with net profits of €42 million and some €45 million in planned investments.