Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1286735
2 NEWS 10.09.2020 JUST over 250,000 passengers travelled through Malta Inter- national Airport (MIA) in Au- gust, down by over 69% when compared to the same period last year. In August 2019, MIA saw over 800,000 passengers pass through the airport. MIA said that since the reo- pening of commercial flights on 1 July, the first two weeks of Au- gust were the busiest in terms of the number of passengers handled. A total of 459,440 seats were available on flights operated to and from Malta throughout Au- gust, with a seat load factor for the month standing at 54.9%. MIA's top markets for the month were Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Poland, accounting for 169,804 of August's total passenger traf- fic. While August saw 99,204 more passengers than July, the introduction of Malta's amber list together with various re- strictions announced by other countries led to a weaker pas- senger traffic performance in the second half of the month. e airport said that aviation and travel organisations, such as Airports Council Interna- tional, have appealed for a more harmonised approach when it comes to quarantine measures and restrictions across coun- tries, which they said would help restore traveller confi- dence and contribute to the in- dustry's recovery. According to the economic analysis bulletin published on 31 August, Airports Council International reported that the airport industry is anticipating a decrease of 58.4% in traffic when compared to 2019, which equates to a loss of 5.6 billion passengers for the year. Only 250,000 passengers travelled through MIA in August FINANCE Minister Edward Sciclu- na has shrugged off concerns about an exemption of €40 million in excise tax for the Delimara has plant owners Elec- trogas by the finance ministry, saying "everyone is responsible for their own actions". Scicluna was fielding questions after a press conference in which he launched the pre-budget document 20201. "In business you give and you receive, and that's what was given," he com- mented. "Everyone is responsible for their own actions. If something hap- pened behind someone's back, they're responsible for their own actions," Sci- cluna said. Earlier this week it was revealed that an intervention by former energy min- ister Konrad Mizzi in 2017 – when he had been 'demoted' to a minister with- out portfolio – meant that Electrogas received an excise tax exemption of €40 million, the burden falling on public fi- nances. Alfred Camilleri, Permanent Secre- tary within the Ministry for Finance, had revealed during the Daphne Carua- na Galizia public inquiry that Enemalta absorbed a €5 million excise tax cost, instead of Electrogas. e ministry has said excise duty on power generation is paid by Enemalta, as confirmed by Camilleri and Cus- toms. "Enemalta is paying regularly the excise duties due," a spokesperson said. Electrogas is a consortium owned by Maltese investors Tumas and Gasan, Siemens of Germany, and SOCAR of Azerbaijan, which buys LNG and sells it to Enemalta for the production of en- ergy. e company also built the €200 million gas plant at Delimara. e son of murdered journalist Daph- ne Caruana Galizia this week published an email exchange between newly-ap- pointed Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg and Stephen Jurgenson, a law- yer representing Electrogas, allowing Mizzi's signature on the Electrogas Se- curity of Supply Agreement to bypass parliament and cabinet. e Security of Supply Agreement was used to guarantee major loans for Elec- trogas, which would have been nullified if any corruption allegations were prov- en correct. e clause meant that Miz- zi's signature would be enough moving forward. Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech, is the main suspect in the murder of Caruana Galizia, who had come into possession of a major Electrogas leak consisting of over 200,000 documents. Her son Matthew says the Electrogas project could have defaulted on a €600 million loan if corruption allegations were proven correct, and that this was the main motive behind her assassina- tion. 'Everyone responsible for own actions' – Scicluna on Electrogas tax exemption