VALLETTA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Malta International Airport handled a record 7.8 million passengers in 2023, the airport Chief Executive Officer Alan Borg said on Thursday.
Passenger volumes were forecast to reach a historic milestone in 2024, as the company expects to handle eight million passengers by the end of the year, Borg said at a press conference on the airport's annual traffic.
Last year's total traffic increased by 6.7 percent over 2019. This represents a growth of almost 500,000 passenger movements, which is comparable to the throughput of an average winter month for the airport.
The airport also outperformed pre-pandemic levels in terms of seat load factor, as each month of the year registered varying degrees of growth over 2019, peaking in August at an all-time high of 91.4 percent, he said.
"2023 was an unprecedented year for Malta International Airport, with record figures being posted month on month for the first time since 2019. While travel demand has remained resilient throughout the year, we are entering 2024 with cautious optimism, as we expect to see passenger traffic growth level off over the coming months, while continuing to face macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds," Borg said.
He said that 2024 promises to be a pivotal year in terms of infrastructural developments as the company concludes the first phases of the westward expansion of the terminal and the construction of Apron X.
