Malta International Airport plc – Interim Directors’ Statement

 Malta International Airport plc announced that during the financial year commencing on January 1, 2014 until May 19, 2014, no material events and /or transactions have taken place that would have an impact on the financial position of the Company, such that they would require specific mention, disclosure or announcement pursuant to the applicable Listing Rules, and which have not been otherwise announced through a Company Announcement.

During the period under review, the financial position of the Company has remained sound and the performance has been better than the projected results. Passenger traffic for the first four months of the year reached 1,033,023 movements to achieve an overall growth of 10.3% over the same period last year, equivalent to 50,800 additional passenger movements. This performance was a direct result of a 9.0% increase in seat capacity as aircraft movements reached a total of 8,447 or 8.8% more than last year. Despite the overall increase in seat capacity, seat load factor was sustained whilst also registering a 1.0% improvement during the first four months to reach an overall average of 74.1%.

The increased traffic achieved during winter and spring demonstrates that Malta continues to trend as an all-year round destination among holidaymakers. It is interesting to note that traffic figures for April are comparable to those achieved in June 2012 (375,294 passengers).

The outlook for the summer season looks positive albeit at significantly reduced growth rates. Wizz Air will be increasing its presence in Malta introducing three new scheduled routes in June to operate twice weekly from Gdansk and Sofia, and three times a week from Bucharest. Wizz Air will also be increasing their Budapest schedule from 4 to 5 flights a week between June and September. Similarly, as from August, Emirates will increase its weekly schedule to operate twice daily from Dubai having one flight via Larnaca and a second flight going through Tripoli. Brussels Airlines will be the third new airline to start operations to Malta this year to fly twice weekly from Brussels between June & September. Vueling, who already flies to Malta from Madrid and Barcelona will launch a third route from Spain to Malta operating from Seville twice weekly during July and August.

Subject to any unforeseen circumstances, the Directors expect the Company’s financial results for the year will be within the projections made at the beginning of the year.

To view the official company announcement, click here.