Malta International Airport plc (MIA) on Monday (today) announced that it welcomed a record total of 474,404 passengers during February 2024.

This marks a sharp 25.1 per cent increase in passenger traffic when compared to the same month last year.

The result was achieved in parallel with a 21.9 per cent increase in aircraft movements, while seat capacity deployed by airlines rose by 25.3 per cent over 2023 figures. Despite this, seat occupancy remained aligned with 2023 volumes, as load factor marginally dropped by 0.1 per cent to 82.5 per cent.

Italy continued to occupy top spot as MIA’s top market, with a market share of close to 22 per cent. This was closely followed by the United Kingdom, which registered a growth of 30.3 per cent over the previous year. Germany and Poland climbed to third and fourth place respectively with a market share of almost nine per cert each, while Spain became the airport’s fifth most popular market with a share of just over five per cent.

Additionally, MIA was recognised as the "Best Airport in Europe" in its size category for the sixth consecutive year, achieving a high overall satisfaction score of 4.38 for its performance in 2023. The global programme serves as a benchmark for measuring passenger satisfaction among nearly 400 airports in 95 countries, with feedback being received through the Airport Service Quality survey completed by travelling guests prior to boarding.

The airport has also published its flight schedule for the upcoming summer season, seeing the introduction of direct connections to Belfast (Northern Ireland), Edinburgh (Scotland), Norwich (England), Tallinn (Estonia), and Basel (Switzerland). Increased flight frequency is also being deployed on several routes to France, Italy, and the UK, particularly during the peak months.

Last month, MIA also released its Annual Report for 2023, in which it announced that it had closed the year with a record 7.8 million passenger movements, 33.4 per cent more than in 2022. This increase was also felt in profitability, with pre-tax profit for the year going up to €62.2 million, as the demand for air travel continues to increase.