Major expansion plan unveiled for close-to-capacity Malaga Airport

The unstoppable growth of passenger numbers at the Costa del Sol airport has finally been addressed in an expansion project that the president of Spain's airport operator (Aena) Maurici Lucena presented to Malaga mayor Francisco de la Torre and the head of the provincial authority, Francisco Salado, on Friday last week.

The expansion plan for Malaga Airport will be included in the official document that regulates the growth and development of Spain's airports (Dora III), which will be approved in 2027. According to the project, the Costa del Sol facility will almost double its surface area, growing from the current 80,000 square metres to 140,000.

"This great project is clear evidence of Aena's commitment to connectivity in and development of the province of Malaga and Andalucía," said the operator's president adding, "Airports are at the service of the region they are in, to guarantee and improve the mobility of its people and businesses."

Although the financial scope of this investment has not been announced, some of the actions have already been listed, for example, the demolition of Terminal 1 and the piers for non-Schengen flights (B and C) as well as the construction of a new area next to the second runway.

It is expected that the project will be put out to tender in the next few weeks, once the functional design has been revealed. The plans could start to be drawn up next year and the environmental reports carried out in 2028. This would mean that work could start in 2029.

Aena has specified that the capacity of the new terminal space will be adapted to suit demand through the construction of a new pier for non-Schengen flights with a centralised border control.

The number of stands for planes will be increased to improve the quality of service provided to airlines and passengers and more space will be provided for security controls. The luggage management system will be redesigned to improve handling, among other improvements.

"All of this will mean an improved experience for the passenger, thanks to more space available for all services," said sources.

Similarly the area for security controls will increase by 112%; departures passport control will have 515% more space; the non-Schengen waiting and boarding area will increase by 380%; and the Schengen boarding area will have 126% more space.

Last year the airport, which currently has a capacity for 30 million passengers a year received 25 million, a figure expected to continue rising in the next few years, with the airport in danger of becoming too small.

This expansion announced by Aena last week will take the maximum capacity up to 36 million passengers a year. This figure was not provided when the plans were announced last Friday, however it has since been revealed by technical sources.

The number can be interpreted in different ways. The airport currently has a limit of 30 million passengers a year, although airport managers are confident that the figure could be "stretched", with more passengers in winter months and in the early hours of the morning when there are currently few flights.

What is causing concern is the capacity of the terminal buildings, and not the runways, which could cope with a greater number of flights.

The airport has dealt with 7.7% more passengers in the first five months of this year, a bigger increase than other Spanish airports. Passenger figures in May were up 8.7% on the previous year with 2,584,681 passengers using the airport during that month alone.

A quick calculation reveals that if the current rate of growth continues, this year will end with around 27 million passengers, implying that the 30-million limit could be reached in a maximum of two years.

If the current growth trend continues, therefore, the airport will only be able to cope for a couple more years.

Even after the expansion announced at the end of last week, which is expected to cost hundreds of millions of euros, the airport's capacity will remain limited to 36 million passengers and only last for another few years.

The worrying conclusion, however, is that that is as far as it can go. Once this latest project has been carried out, the airport will be able to grow no more, bearing in mind the space occupied by the two runways.

"That's the maximum the airport can stretch to," said technical sources consulted by SUR.

So to continue growing, the expansion debate has to move further away. New terrain could be considered, such as the Ciudad Aeroportuaria business park in Alhaurín de la Torre, for example.

Other options could include looking at building another airport, such as the project there once was in Antequera, or to make more use of Granada Airport as a satellite of Malaga (as happens in other big European cities). In that case a fast train service from the airport to Malaga would be vital.