‘In line with our expectations’ – MIA CEO Alan Borg reflects on November traffic results

As the Malta International Airport (MIA) published its November Traffic Results, citing a 35.9 per cent decrease in passengers travelling through said airport when compared to 2019, CEO Alan Borg remained cautiously optimistic.

“November’s traffic performance was in line with our expectations, however, the success of the holiday season depends on how Europe responds to the evolving epidemiological situation and the emergence of new variants,” Mr Borg noted.

“The introduction of tighter and fragment restrictions would deal a new blow to consumer confidence, which would not only impact air travel in December, but also have more far-reaching effects into 2022,” he continued.

Last November saw 315,964 passengers travel through MIA, translating to the lowest percentage drop to be registered by the airport since the start of the pandemic.

Out of a total of 455,802 seats available on flights operated to and from MIA, almost 70 per cent were occupied during the month of November.

The seat load factor (SLF) for the past three months has remained largely unchanged, dipping only marginally from 70.2 per cent in September 2021 to settle at 69.3 per cent in October and November 2021.

After having topped Malta International Airport’s list of most popular markets for three consecutive months, the United Kingdom was outranked by Italy, which registered 60,551 passenger movements, last November.

Following an absence of several months and the introduction of the Warsaw Modlin route at the beginning of November, Poland outperformed Spain and re-appeared among last month’s top five markets. Germany and France, on the other hand, retained their position within this list.