Malaga Airport exceeds 20 million passengers in nine months for first time ever

Malaga Airport continues its unstoppable growth, having set a new record in September. For the first time, it exceeded 20 million passengers in the first nine months of the year (20,750,257), which is 7.5% more than in the same period last year, according to data published by Spanish airport manager Aena.

The good results in September have contributed to these figures. Last month, 2,626,561 passengers passed through Malaga Airport, a figure never before reached in September, representing a 5% increase in passengers. This placed the Costa del Sol facility in fourth place in Spain after Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas (5.92 million), Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat (5.27 million) and Palma de Mallorca (4.11 million).

In September, there were 17,656 flights at Malaga Airport, which represents an increase of 4.5% compared to the same month last year. Aena stressed that the increase in both passengers and operations has been due to "the upturn in domestic traffic and the dynamism maintained by foreign traffic".

The majority of passengers recorded over the past month travelled on commercial flights (excluding general and executive aviation), totalling 2,623,193. Of these, 433,109 travelled to or from a Spanish town or city, representing an increase of 10.8%, while 2,190,084 opted for connections abroad (up 3.9%).

The foreign markets with the highest demand in absolute terms were the UK (639,698 passengers), followed by Germany (203,074), the Netherlands (160,111), France (138,352), Italy (130,036), Ireland (129,028) and Belgium (97,162). In terms of growth rate, the increase of flights to Poland was significant, with 25.5% more passengers, followed by Hungary (up 25.1%), the Czech Republic (up 23.9%) and Morocco (up 20.7%).

Of the 20,719,398 passengers who have passed through Malaga Airport on commercial flights up to September, the bulk (17,258,859) were on flights to or from foreign destinations, representing an increase of 7.8%, while the rest (3,460,529) were aboard domestic flights, representing an increase of 6.2%.

From January to September, a total of 144,190 flights were operated at Malaga Airport, of which 141,772 were commercial, representing a 7.5% increase.

With this rate of growth, Malaga Airport is on course to reach 27 million passengers this year, which is very close to the maximum threshold for which this infrastructure was designed just over a decade ago - 30 million. This is why Aena has already launched projects for the facility's expansion over the next decade, which will give it a capacity of more than 36 million, especially on days and at times of maximum saturation.