Malta International Airport saw just 152,818 passenger movements last month as COVID-19 travel restrictions started to be gradually lifted after three months.
In a statement on Thursday, MIA said passenger movements dropped by 80.9 per cent in traffic when compared to July 2019.
The full month arrivals and departures were equivalent to the number of passengers registered in the first week of July 2019.
The government eased restrictions for travel to 21 'safe' countries on July 1, removing all restrictions on July 15. It is now in the process of introducing new restrictions, including a requirement for arrivals from risk countries to produce a COVID-19 negative test result or be swabbed on arrival.
MIA said there were drops of 70.3 per cent and 72.1 per cent in aircraft movements and seat capacity respectively last month. The seat load factor (SLF)
for the month, measuring the percentage of occupied seats on flights operated to and from Malta International Airport, stood at 59.7 per cent.
A passenger performance analysis conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), showed that, on average, European airports registered a 78 per cent decrease in passenger numbers in July. Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and France reported drops in passenger numbers that ranged between 74 per cent and 87 per cent.
Air passenger numbers expected to drop 60% in Europe in 2020: IATA
Air passenger numbers in Europe are expected to drop by 60 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis, the global aviation industry said Thursday, with the recovery looking highly uncertain.
Although air traffic in Europe has increased in recent months since its low point in April, flights remain "more than 50 percent below the same period in 2019" -- a drop of around 705 million passenger journeys, said the International Air Transport Association.
"The near-term outlook for recovery in Europe remains highly uncertain with respect to the second wave of the pandemic and the broader global economic impact it could have," IATA said in a statement.
IATA estimated that more than seven million jobs supported by aviation, including in the tourism industry, were now "at risk".
In France, Britain and Germany, the drop in traffic in 2020 is estimated at 65 percent, and in Spain and Italy, at 63 percent.
The most heavily-affected European country is set to be Norway, with an expected 79 percent fall.
IATA estimates the global shortfall for the sector -- one of the worst affected by the pandemic, which grounded almost the entire global fleet at the height of the crisis -- to be $419 billion in 2020.
It does not expect traffic to return to 2019 levels until 2024.
Geneva-based IATA represents some 290 airlines comprising 82 percent of global air traffic. (AFP)