• August traffic grows by 14.8 per cent over last year
• Average of 22,372 daily passenger movements
• Over 4 million passengers in first 8 months, equivalent to full-year traffic in 2013.

The month of August saw an average of 22,372 travellers passing through the terminal on a daily basis, with this number spiking on the month’s busiest day to reach 26,359 passenger movements.

An unprecedented total of 693,537 passengers passed through the airport, resulting in a noteworthy increase of 14.8 per cent in August’s traffic over the same month last year. Growth in passenger numbers was achieved in line with an increase of 15.0 per cent in seat capacity

With a 12.9 per cent increase in aircraft movements, during the month of August the runway bustled with no less than 4,624 take-offs and landings.

Despite the significant increase in available seats on flights to and from Malta International Airport, seat load factor (SLF), which measures airlines’ efficiency in filling these seats, stood at a healthy 88.1 per cent. This is the highest seat load factor for the year so far.

The airport’s top five markets – the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Spain – were responsible for more than 460,000 passenger movements of Malta International Airport’s total traffic for August.

While all of these markets experienced varying levels of growth ranging from 8.9 per cent to 31.5 per cent, the number of passengers from France (+31.5 per cent) and Germany (+22.6 per cent) registered the most significant upturn.

The French market’s growth can be partly attributed to the launch of the Bordeaux and the Tolouse routes and increased capacity on the Lyon route. On the other hand, increased activity from Germany mainly stemmed from added flight frequency on the Frankfurt and Munich routes.

In the first eight months of the year, Malta International Airport welcomed just over 4 million passengers, which is equivalent to the airport’s full-year traffic for 2013.