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Malta International Airport (MIA) has reported an 18.8% decline in passenger movements in March when compared to the same month last year. The company said passenger movements on scheduled and non-scheduled flights in March 2009 reached 183,984 a decline of 42,556 when compared to March 2008. The result means that passenger movements in the first quarter of this year declined by an average of 14.4%.
The company said the decline this year was mostly due to a lack of seat capacity, the fact that Easter came in April this year, and general election traffic in March last year.
“The drop in passenger figures in the first quarter was expected, in actual fact in our forecast we even expected it to be worse, therefore we find no reason to rethink our predictions at this point whereby we have gauged a decline of 5.5% by end year. In April we should be expecting to see a changing picture for the better, however Summer will no doubt be crucial,” said Julian Jaeger CEO.
MIA said that in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority, it had managed to secure last year’s seat capacity for summer.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
