Malta Airport Statistics

Malta International Airport (MLA) is the main aviation hub for the Mediterranean archipelago, connecting the Maltese Islands to over 100 destinations across Europe and beyond. As Malta's only international airport, MLA has seen steady growth over the past decade, establishing itself as one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe.

Malta International Airport handles over 8 million passengers annually.

• 10.06 million passengers passed through the airport in 2025, a 12.3% increase from 8.96 million in 2024 and the highest annual total on record.
• Pre-pandemic traffic reached 7.31 million passengers in 2019.
• Passenger numbers dropped sharply during the pandemic to 1.75 million in 2020 and 2.54 million in 2021, before rebounding to 5.85 million in 2022.
• In 2023, 7.8 million passengers used the airport, showing continued recovery.

Domestic vs International Passengers

As an island nation, Malta has no domestic fixed-wing commercial aviation market.

• Nearly all passenger traffic at Malta International Airport is international.
• The statistics reflect only international flights, connecting Malta to Europe and select global destinations.
• Domestic services are limited to specialized helicopter flights to Gozo, which make up a negligible share of traffic.

Top Source Market by Passenger Origin at Malta Airport

European routes dominate Malta’s network, with Italy and the United Kingdom leading in passenger volume.

• United Kingdom: 2,042,989 passengers in 2025
• Italy: 2,013,040 passengers
• Poland: 860,738 passengers
• Germany: 783,477 passengers
• France: 619,358 passengers

Low-cost carriers are dominant at Malta International Airport, accounting for more than two-thirds of total passengers.

• Ryanair served as the largest airline handling 4.49 million passengers (50.1% market share) in 2024.
• KM Malta Airlines, launched in March 2024 as the new national flag carrier replacing Air Malta carried 1.9 million passengers (21.2% market share).
• easyJet and Wizz Air handled 460,389 (5.1%) and 416,096 (4.6%) passengers respectively.
• Lufthansa completed the top 5 with 324,038 (3.6%) passengers.

• As of late 2024, the airport was connected to 109 destinations.
• 26 non-stop scheduled passenger routes operate year-round across 9 countries.
• The core network includes around 30 direct routes for business and leisure.
• Seasonal routes include charter flights to destinations such as Corfu and Geneva.

Malta Airport handles close to 20,000 tonnes of cargo and mail annually, with steady growth in recent years.

• The airport managed 28,422 tonnes in 2025, a 20.3% increase compared to 23,624 tonnes in 2024.
• By comparison, 18,498 tonnes were handled in 2019, followed by moderate decrease in 2020 with 17,086 tonnes.
• Cargo volume decreased further to 15,997 tonnes in 2021 before recovering to 17,552 tonnes in 2022, and 20,644 tonnes in 2023.

• 23 November 1985: EgyptAir Flight 648 was hijacked and landed at Luqa Airport. An Egyptian commando raid ended in over 60 fatalities.
• 21 December 1988: The Lockerbie bombing was linked to a bomb allegedly routed via Air Malta Flight KM180.
• 9 June 1997: Air Malta Flight 830 was hijacked en route to Istanbul, but landed safely in Cologne.
• 21 February 2011: Two Libyan Mirage F1 pilots defected to Malta; French helicopters also arrived with evacuees from Libya.
• 24 October 2016: CAE Aviation Fairchild Merlin crashed after takeoff from Luqa, killing all five onboard during a French surveillance mission.
• 23 December 2016: Afriqiyah Airways Flight 209 was hijacked and diverted to Malta.