Air Malta’s recovery following the easing of travel restrictions has been in line with that of the global travel market, Executive Chairman David Curmi confirmed on Thursday while writing in his personal capacity.
Following the removal of travel restrictions, passengers expressed a “very strong willingness to travel”, Mr Curmi said, prompting passenger traffic to recover from 41.7 per cent of 2019 volumes in 2021 to 68.5 per cent in 2022.
“This positive trend is expected to remain strong throughout 2023,” he said, before adding that Air Malta’s performance was “indeed very similar to that of the global travel market”.
From 1st April 2022 until 31st January 2023, the airline carried 1,461,762 passengers out of a total seat capacity of 1,637,149, leading to an average of 89 per cent seat load factor during the entire 10 months. For six consecutive months, it achieved “unprecedented seat load factors in excess of 90 per cent,” he said.
Air Malta plc Executive Chairman David Curmi
“During this period we operated to 18 routes to key European cities and performed 4,856 rotations equivalent to a monthly average of 486 rotations and a weekly average of 110 rotations,” Mr Curmi explained, before adding that it was achieved with a fleet of seven aircraft and a leased one between July and October 2022.
The airline’s top destination in terms of passenger loads was Italy with 343,115 passengers, followed by the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The top airport remained London Heathrow, while Munich, and Rome Fiumicino were second and third respectively.
“This satisfactory performance was achieved despite the headwinds that the aviation industry is still facing and is solely attributable to the hard work, dedication, and commitment of our people across the company,” he remarked.
He added that Air Malta’s summer 2023 programme, which was announced last December, will see a “significant expansion of routes and growth in the number of flights” which will be operated in its upcoming flight schedule.
“We will be delivering an average 20 per cent growth in the number of flights operated per week across the April to October 2023 period, and we plan to operate up to 157 flights per week into Malta during the peak summer period,” he stated.
He concluded by saying that Air Malta is looking forward to developing its five new routes in the summer 2023 programme, namely Tel Aviv, Nice, Palermo, and Naples, which will be effective from April, as well as Lisbon, which will be effective from 26th June.
