Improved passenger movements registered at Malta International Airport

Credit: Malta International Airport (MLA)

With 428,426 passenger movements registered, October 2021 became Malta International Airport’s (MLA) best performing month since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this encouraging result, which can be partly attributed to the easing of more entry restrictions by government and the mid-term holiday effect, October’s traffic was still 39.1 per cent lower than October 2019 levels.

This decline in passenger numbers over October 2019 was registered in parallel with a drop of 28.5 per cent in aircraft movements and a decrease of 27.7 per cent in seat capacity. Seat load factor (SLF), on the other hand, stood at 69.3 per cent, which translates into a drop of 13 per cent compared to the same month in 2019.

The UK, which simplified testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers at the beginning of October, continued to top the list of Malta International Airport’s best-performing markets, registering just over 110,800 passenger movements. Italy, Germany, France, and Spain followed the UK with a cumulative total of 170,991 passenger movements.