Malta International Airport closed off 2019 with a record 7,310,289 passenger movements. 

This translated into a 7.4% over 2018, marking the 10th year of traffic growth for the airport.

This rise in passenger numbers was observed in parallel with a 7.3% increase in seat capacity. Measuring the occupancy of seats available on flights to and from MIA, seat load factor (SLF) remained unchanged from the previous year to stand at 81.8%.

This solid full-year performance was partly driven by improved flight schedules for both the winter and the summer months.

In 2019, MIA welcomed a new airline, inaugurated 18 new routes spanning three continents, and introduced other developments aimed at further enhancing the islands’ connectivity, particularly in the off-peak months.

While growth of 7.2% was posted in the winter and shoulder months, the peak summer months saw a marginally higher increase in passenger movements of 7.6%. 

The fastest-growing months were December (+15.2%), April (+10.5%), June (+8.8%), and October (+8.8%), with three of these top performers being winter and shoulder months.

On the other hand, the largest contributor to full-year traffic was August, registering just over 823,000 passenger movements. 

The top traffic drivers were the United Kingdom (+2.2%), Italy (+3.4%), Germany (+9%), France (+10.8%) and Spain (+17.3%), all of which benefitted from route developments that continued to reinforce their popularity during the year.