Malta’s airport appeals for passenger cooperation ‘ahead of a busy weekend’

Malta International Airport (MIA) is preparing for a busy weekend ahead, during which peaks of up to 1,100 simultaneously arriving passengers are expected, it revealed in a statement.

For processing efficiency to be maintained even during these peak hours, passengers are reminded to have their documents ready for verification, especially on arrival.

The statement comes as the public and tourists have complained about hour+ queues to have their vaccine certificate and other COVID-related documentation checked on arrival. In addition, the airport has continually urged passengers to make use of digital documentation to facilitate the speed of processing.

Arriving passengers must complete a digital Passenger Locator Form here and are asked to ensure that all sections are filled in correctly, particularly the Permanent Address (address at the country of residence) and Temporary Address (address of your stay in Malta) sections as well as the flight details.

This form must be presented together with a negative result of a COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test taken not later than 72 hours before arriving in Malta or a valid vaccination certificate. The vaccination certificates being accepted by the Malta Superintendence of Public Health are listed below.

• Malta Vaccine Certificate
• United Kingdom NHS COVID Pass (digital app version or paper certificate)
• EU Digital COVID Certificate

These certificates are only accepted if they indicate that vaccination has been received in full and if at least 14 days have passed from the administration of the last dose. Passengers are also reminded that the Malta Superintendence of Public Health is currently not accepting the EU Digital COVID Recovery Certificate as a valid entry document.

On the other hand, departing passengers may view the travel requirements of their destination country on maltairport.com/covid19/departure/. Outbound passengers are reminded to call at the terminal check-in counters for their health documents to be checked prior to departure, irrespective of whether they would have already checked in online or not.

While local businesses will welcome the news of a busy weekend for the arrival section at the airport, a spike in cases has been observed this week, with reports indicating that the majority are coming from unvaccinated persons and foreign arrivals, resulting in fresh concern that restrictions may be re-imposed.

Despite the spike in cases, reports also indicate that no new cases have required hospital treatment.

Malta International Airport thanked passengers for their cooperation and encouraged travellers to visit maltairport.com/covid19/ for more information about travel requirements and the passenger journey.