• 530,576 passenger movements registered in April
• Seat capacity up by 17.7% while seat load factor reached 85.1%
• Busiest day fell within the Easter period,  accounting for 23,400 passenger movements

Last month’s passenger movements registered an increase of 26.6%, surpassing the half a million mark for the first time in April. Malta International Airport welcomed a total of 530,576 passengers, on the back of an increase of 17.7% in seat capacity and an improvement of 5.3 percentage points in seat load factor (SLF).

April’s strong performance partly stemmed from the Easter holiday effect, together with the start of new operations and the extension of certain winter routes into the summer period. The Cruise & Fly programme, which was launched at the beginning of last month, was an important contributing factor to the growth registered by both the United Kingdom and Germany.

The United Kingdom retained its top spot among MIA’s top five markets, followed by Italy, Germany, France, and Belgium. Italy’s growth was mainly generated on the Catania route, following increased flight frequencies to this destination. Meanwhile, enhanced seat capacity deployed on the Paris route and the launch of the new Bordeaux route in mid-April contributed to increased passenger numbers from France. Belgium was the market that registered the strongest growth, resulting from enhanced connectivity to Brussels.

While an average of 17,600 passengers passed through the airport every day, this figure spiked on the 13th of April. 23,400 passengers were welcomed at the terminal on the day, making it the busiest one of the year so far.