Planes flying in and out of Malta were half empty ahead of the Santa Marija week, traditionally the island’s peak holiday period.
Airport CEO Alan Borg said the seat load factor – the proportion of seats taken up on flights – stood at just 51.7 per cent in the first week of August, as the tourism industry continues to struggle under the impact of COVID-19.
“This translated into a drop of 36.3 per cent over the same week in 2019. Additionally, seat capacity, which is driven by demand, was down 28.5 per cent in the first week of August 2021, compared to the same week in 2019,” Borg said.
This year, to draw comparisons, the airport looks at pre-pandemic numbers since COVID-related restrictions were still in place in the summer of 2020.
“As a result of the weaker demand for travel to Malta, we have seen several airlines operating smaller aircraft to and from our airport, and others reducing frequency on routes to Malta.”
Despite the significant drop in travellers, Borg said the performance of some markets exceeded expectations.
In July, Borg had warned that tourist numbers were likely to be “worse” in August than July.
“The performance of some markets, including Poland, France and the United Kingdom, exceeded our expectations in the first week of August. Results for that week also show the UK market at the top of the leader board again, after last ranking first in April 2020,” he said.
Thousands of UK tourists had rushed to book trips to Malta after the British government placed the island on its green travel list in June. But the rush quickly dried up after the Maltese authorities, reacting to a surge in COVID cases among visitors, imposed stricter measures, allowing only those who are fully vaccinated into the island.
This also forced many families with children to cancel their holiday because teenagers were not yet eligible for the vaccine in their home country.
Estimates by Times of Malta, based on figures supplied by the Malta Tourism Authority, showed cancellations from Air Malta alone cost the island some €12 million in lost revenue for July.
COVID: One death, 94 new infections
An 85-year-old woman died while COVID-19 positive between Friday and yesterday, the health department reported.
She was the 430th person to die while infected since the pandemic began in Malta.
The department recorded 94 new virus cases and 120 recoveries in 24 hours, bringing the number of active cases to 696.
The hospital is treating 38 patients with the virus, marginally up from Friday’s 36. Four patients are in intensive care.
So far, 404,213 people have been fully vaccinated, with 783,983 doses administered so far.