Alhaurín de la Torre wants to take advantage of Malaga Airport's expansion plans to add a metro station

On this occasion, he proposed that the airport expansion include the metro line reaching Malaga Airport itself and that this connection become the first station to serve both Alhaurín and the neighbouring town of Churriana.

The request was presented to the airport coordination committee for Andalucía, a working group comprising of representatives from the Ministry of Transport in Madrid, the Spanish airports and air navigation authority (Aena) and other government bodies.

The meeting focused on the airport regulation document known as DORA III for the period 2027-2031, which outlines the details of Malaga Airport's proposed expansion.

Mayor Villanova also stressed the urgency of completing the northern access road to the airport from the Alhaurín de la Torre interchange.

"I believe we can work together and coordinate all of this. We just need to join forces to achieve it," he stated clearly.

Villanova noted that his municipality has 3.7 million square metres of land equidistant from the airport and the city limits of Malaga. He suggested that this development, yet to be implemented, could also include space for a large, public park-and-ride.

Villanova sees the add-ons to the metro as feasible within the framework of the budget - estimated by him to be 900 million euros - for a new terminal at the airport, which could increase passenger capacity to 36 million people, up from the current 29 million people.

Ensuring greater reach for the metropolitan area's public transport network and a metro and rail link to the municipality are constant priorities for Alhaurín's mobility plans, along with road improvements. The town council has passed unanimous resolutions on this matter, such as the one requesting that central government conduct a feasibility study for a rail link between the airport train station and Alhaurín town centre.

These demands from Alhaurín town hall are nothing new - on the contrary, they date back at least 20 years. Alongside all this, other actions are also underway, such as improving bus frequencies and developing parking areas to encourage people to leave their private vehicles behind and opt for public transport.

Alhaurín de la Torre council exploring options for the Malaga public transport company (EMT) to extend its bus service to the municipality, thereby speeding up journey times to and from the Costa del Sol capital.

To this end, the mayor announced the construction of a large park-and-ride facility with 400 parking spaces, just outside Churriana.

The location of this parking area would be in the area near Aldi supermarket on Avenida de Santa Clara. From there, it's about a 5-minute walk to the bus stop in the Tabico residential area, the last stop in the municipality on the A-404 road. From there, it's a slightly longer drive or bus ride to the EMT bus stop near the Lidl supermarket in Churriana.