Malta records annual rise in commercial flights every month so far in 2026

Malta recorded a rise in the number of commercial flights in every month of 2026 when compared to the corresponding months a year earlier.

In August, Malta saw the second highest annual increase in commercial flights in the European Union, having done so during a number of other months also.

Data published by Eurostat shows that when comparing August 2026 with the same month in 2025, the number of commercial flights increased in 19 EU countries and decreased in eight. While the largest annual increase was in Slovakia (37 per cent), the second highest increase was in Malta (12.4 per cent).

The data refers to commercial flights (passengers, freight and mail), which are departing from/landing in the respective country.

Data provided by Eurostat to this newsroom shows that there was a total of 7,631 such flights during August this year.

2026 has been a strong year for flight activity in the country. The lowest increase was in January (9.3 per cent more commercial flights than January 2025), while the highest percentage increase was in June (15.3 per cent more commercial flights than June 2025), data provided by the EU’s statistics agency shows.

In terms of the total number of flights, July had the most, with 7,695.

The increase in flight activity comes as no surprise given the increase in tourism numbers that the country has been experiencing. Last year, the country saw a record 4.02 million tourists visit the country, and this year is on track to see that record broken. In July Malta recorded an estimated 489,494 inbound tourists, an increase of 20.8 per cent over the same month in 2025.