The start of the peak summer season saw Malta International Airport (MIA) register its strongest recovery to date. A total of 689,145 passengers travelled through the airport in July, marking a recovery of 86.3 per cent of pre-pandemic traffic.

Seat capacity for the month of July was at 85 per cent of 2019 levels, while the seat load factor (SLF) increased by 1.2 per cent compared to the reference year. At 88.3 per cent, last month’s seat load factor, which measures the seat occupancy on flights to and from Malta, was the highest MIA has registered in July since 2016.

Top markets

Having exceeded 2019 passenger numbers in June and July, Italy continued to top Malta International Airport’s market leaderboard, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain. While the Italian market grew by 3 per cent over July 2019, the French market registered a more noteworthy increase of 41 per cent compared to the same month in 2019. This growth was largely driven by the introduction of flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly by Air France and Vueling, respectively. 

Year-to-date traffic

July’s results brought year-to-date traffic through MIA up to more than three million passenger movements, with this figure translating to a recovery of 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.