The Malta Tourism Authority welcomed the "great news" that the airport last month welcomed over 418,000 passengers, the first time since 1999 that the month of September was more popular among travellers compared to August.

The airport last week said it had hosted 418,473 passengers in September, down by 45.1 per cent from September of 2019, before the pandemic struck. The figure was the highest since the outbreak of COVID-19.

On Monday, the MTA said September was also "the strongest month" in terms of passenger volumes since the beginning of the pandemic.

However, seat-occupancy levels remained below pre-pandemic levels, as airlines carried passengers to and from the airport at an average seat load factor of just over 70%.

MTA CEO Johann Buttigieg welcomed the positive September figures.

“This is great news for Malta, especially given the circumstances we all have had to live with in the past months, and naturally, it fills us, as an authority, with a strong sense of positivity, coupled with the right amount of energy, to look forward to ending 2021 and starting 2022 with further positive results.

He said he believed that MTA's marketing efforts, together with the €20m-strong tourism recovery plan which laid out together with the Ministry for Tourism, as well as, the excellent way in which the health authorities handled, the pandemic, all played a crucial role in the results.

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