During the first month of 2024, the total number of passengers that were recorded on the Malta International Airport (MIA) reached 465,482.
This saw it surpass the milestone of more than 400,000 passengers in the month of January for the first time since 2020.
The increase
According to the latest report from the airport, there was a 22.7% increase in the passenger activity as compared to 2023, which saw it reach its peak on January 6th.
This day was a busy day as it marked the end of the holiday travel period. It saw a total of 151 flights, which carried around 23,923 people to and from the airport.
MIA disclosed that a total of 3,511 aircrafts were moved in the month of January, which is a 23.4% increase as compared to the same month last year.
There was a 27.4% increase in seat capacity as compared to 2023, but there was a 2.8 percentage points decline in the load factor, with average occupancy on flights reaching 74%.
Further data from MIA also showed that an interesting change in passenger traffic dynamics had been seen in January 2024 on Malta International Airport.
The change
Due to this change, Italy took the lead with a rise of 24% as compared to 2023. There were other countries that also made a contribution to this growth.
There was a 23% increase from United Kingdom, a 59% increase from Poland, a 30% increase from Germany, while the France market made a contribution of 20%.
The most prominent performer was the Polish market, as it has shown steady growth in the last few years.
In January 2024, Poland emerged as the third-largest market for the Malta International Market and managed to overtake Spain, France and Germany.
The year-on-year increase of 59% during the winter season saw increased flight frequencies operated by Wizz Air and Ryanair to Polish destinations.
Almost 10% of the total passenger movements that were recorded in the previous month were from the Polish market.
MIA
According to the report from the Airports Council International (ACI), Malta International Airport strengthened its position amongst the best performers in Europe in 2023.
Malta was able to take the fourth spot in the European Union region and managed to overtake counterparts in Italy and Spain.
As compared to 2019, it had a strong traffic growth of about 6.7%. The top two places in the segment were clinched by Portugal and Greece, with growth of 12.2% and 12.1%, respectively.
The third place went to Iceland, as its traffic growth stood at 6.9%. In 2023, Malta Airport made a record achievement, as its total number of passengers climbed to 7.8 million.
Known for its annual ranking, European Best Destinations recently ranked Malta as one of the top destinations in the European Union in 2024.
