Air Malta with record passenger growth in February

Air Malta carried 34.6% more passengers in February when compared to the same period last year, amounting to an additional 26,000 more passengers, the airline said on Friday.

The airline said that between November last year to February this year, the airline reported a strong growth of 24%, making this winter season one of the most successful ever.

Paul Sies, the airline’s chief commercial officer described the results as excellent news.

“Although we had an excellent performance with regards to advanced bookings for the month of February, we were positively surprised that the same momentum was also retained during the month,” said Sies.

He added that the airline’s strategy would remain to work towards filling up additional capacity. Moreover, according to Sies, the introduction of a hand-luggage only fare had proved to be a popular move with passengers. 

“We are working hard to maintain this momentum in the coming months. Looking forward the preliminary results for March are looing very promising,” he said.

Air Malta chairman Charles Mangion expressed his optimism at the results, pointing out that, “if figures continue to improve like this, we will manage to close the financial year without any losses”. “This will be the first time in ten years.”

“We need to maintain this momentum and grow the airline, as only through additional traffic can we achieve better financial results,” said Mangion, adding that the results were also good news for the country’s tourism sector.