Recordbreaking winter flight movements recorded in November

The Malta International Airport (MIA) have declared that the winter season is off to a flying start, pun intended, and that half a million passengers have already travelled by air just this November.

This is an increase of 11.8% over the same month last year. The MIA called it "recordbreaking."

The 4th of November was a peak in terms of movement, which was also the day when traffic through the airport hit the six million mark for that year, surpassing the 6,014,548 passenger movements recorded last year.

"This growth in passenger numbers was driven mainly by the launch of a robust winter schedule, featuring an increased frequency of flights to several popular destinations, together with the extension of 12 summer routes into the winter seasion," MIA said.

The top spot this winter, according to the report published by MIA, remains the United Kingdom, followed by Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

"MIA's top five markets remain unchanged."

Aircraft movements rose by 10.4% to 3,357 take-offs and landings in November 2018, while seat capacity grew by 11.5%, when compared to 2017. On average almost 4 out of every 5 seats on board were occupied, bringing November’s seat load factor (SLF) up to 79.2%.

Germany was the only market among the airport's top five to register a slight 0.8% decline in passenger movements. The rest have seen an increase.

"These results not only reflect a successful start to winter season for Malta International Airport, but also put the airport on the path to closing the year with another traffic record," MIA said.