Record month of May at Malaga Airport, with more than two million passengers counted

Malaga Airport has once again set a new record for the number of passengers that passed through the facility, the gateway to the holiday resorts ofCosta del Sol, in the month of May.

A total of 2,150,259 passengers were registered passing through the airport, some 250,000 more passengers than in May of the record year of 2019.

It comes after another record was set in April this year, when the number of travellers for that month exceeded two million for the first time, with 2,020,881 people.

The bustling activity means that Malaga Airport has gained more than 729,000 passengers in the first five months of this year than in the best year in its history, which was 2019.

Between January to May, almost 7.9 million travellers have passed through these terminals, a figure that also represents a growth of 26.1% over the same period of the previous year, according to data released by airport operator Aena.

The statistics show how the visitor rates on the Costa del Sol are evolving at a faster rate than other destinations and point to Malaga Airport as being one of the fastest growing of the major Spanish infrastructures.

While the giants of Madrid and Barcelona are still below pre-pandemic levels, Malaga Airport is 10% above pre-pandemic levels - a boost that neither Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria or Alicante have experienced.

Aena points out that the data from May is "a milestone”. It is the first time the number of monthly travellers exceeds two million in a month of May, levels that had only been reached, until this year, in the months of July and August of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 and, on one occasion, in June and September during the year before the pandemic, Aena added.

The operator believes that the unprecedented demand is based on the popularity of both domestic and international flights.

"The vast majority of the passengers counted last month travelled on commercial connections, totalling 2,147,714. Of these, 1,789,541 opted for flights abroad, which translates into an increase of 15.1% compared to May 2022,” Aena explained.

The remaining 358,173 commercial passengers travelled to or from a Spanish city, 22.6% more than last year.

Markets

By markets, the United Kingdom is regaining the pulse as the destination's main international traveller. A total of 549,076 passengers travelled last month on connections between the coast and British airports. This was followed by the Germans, with 166,827 passengers; and the French with 139,255, which together with Holland (128,456) and Ireland (109,246) were the countries with the highest demand last month.

This intense activity was also registered on the airport's runways. The airport managed 15,230 aircraft movements, representing an increase of 7.6% compared to the same dates in 2022. "International operations amounted to 11,752, an increase of 8.4% compared to May last year. The volume of flights with Spanish airports also grew, reaching 3,122, 12.6% higher than the figures for May 2022," Aena pointed out. In terms of the accumulated figures for the first five months of the year, the public company puts the number of landings and take-offs at 58,233, 11.4% more than in May, 2022.