• MIA welcomed a total of 4,618,642 passengers in 2015

• Airport forecasting 4.73 million passengers for 2016, a 2.4 per cent growth over 2015

• Three new airlines in 2016: Volotea, Iberia Express and Czech Airlines

• Airport has investment plans totalling €78 million: €40 million on SkyParks 2, €28

million for a Terminal Expansion and €9.8million in capital expenditure for 2016.

Malta International Airport is expecting at least 4.73 million passengers this year, a 2.4 per cent increase in traffic from 2015 when 4,618,642 visitors were registered.

“Every year our challenge is to keep building on the year-on-year successes of the past decade, while investing strategically to cater for projected growth. This year is no exception. We are investing more than ever before while working closely with airlines and other partners to keep building our network and increase Malta’s connectivity,” MIA CEO Mr Alan Borg told a press conference.

He said the results of last year showed the airport was achieving its goal of increasing traffic in the winter months. December alone saw a 9 per cent increase over last year, he pointed out, thanking the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism for their continuous support in attracting new airlines and passengers. Throughout this winter, MIA will be connected to another three airports, bringing the total to 57.

3 new airlines are expected to start flying next summer, including Volotea to Catania, Iberia Express to Madrid and Czech

Airlines to Prague.

Meanwhile, EasyJet will launch a new route to Geneva and Ryanair will be expanding their operations by another 10 routes in the summer, including Poznan, Baden-Baden and Cologne.

Flights will also be added to Athens, Budapest and Helsinki, through Aegean, Wizzair and Finnair respectively, all relative newcomers to Malta International Airport.

Last month, MIA announced a series of investments that would inject at least €78 million into the Maltese economy. The investment plans include an estimated €40 million on SkyParks 2, a €28 million Terminal Expansion and €9.8million in capital expenditure for 2016.

Last year was a very positive year for MIA, with passenger growth of 7.7 per cent over 2014, a total increase of 328,338 passengers. Aircraft movements increased by 6.3 per cent, while seat capacity went up by 5.8 per cent.

The top markets for 2015 remained the United Kingdom, which saw an increase of 4.7 per cent, Italy, which increased by 13.3 per cent and Germany which increased by 3.1 per cent. Substantial increases were also registered from Turkey (82.7 per cent), Poland (50.1 per cent) and Switzerland (18.7 per cent).

Crucially, seat load factor also increased to 81.1 per cent from 79.7 per cent, meaning planes are being filled closer to capacity. Meanwhile, Cargo and Mail was up by 5.6 per cent from 15,547 tonnes in 2014 to 16,414 tonnes in 2015.

In his concluding remarks, Mr Borg thanked all the 5,000 employees working at the airport for the commitment and dedication they show every single day, hence making another record year possible. He added that through the collaboration with its partners, Malta International Airport continuously seeks to raise the quality of experience for passengers, with the goal of becoming the best airport in Europe.

Minister for Tourism Edward Zammit Lewis said Malta had witnessed years of sustained growth in airport passenger activity that contributed to the growth of the country’s inbound tourism performance and produced a climate of optimism

and confidence amongst all stakeholders.

“The results developed from hard work and a clear strategy and direction, aimed at the growth of existing routes and frequencies and the introduction of new routes from identified target markets,” he said, adding that key to these

achievements was also Government’s ability to forge synergies between all industry stakeholders.

Finally, the Minister thanked Mr. Alan Borg MIA CEO, the Board of Directors, management and all the staff at MIA for their sterling work and their contribution to the success of Malta’s tourism industry in general.