Malaga Airport hits record of three million passengers in one month

The surge has brought the total number of passengers passing through the airport in the first six months of the year to 16.2 million, 6.6% more than in the same period of 2025. During this period, runway operations exceeded 112,000 movements, an increase of 4.6%.

Malaga Airport is performing better than the national average. From January to July 2026, airports in the Aena network in Spain recorded 190,652,815 passengers, 4% more than in 2025, representing a lower rate of growth than that recorded in the first seven months of last year compared with 2024, when growth stood at 4.1%. Furthermore, there were 1,617,122 aircraft movements, representing a 4.4% increase.

The strength of international tourism has played a key role in this historic surge in July. Of the total number of passengers who passed through these facilities, 484,650 travelled on flights to or from a Spanish city, representing an increase of 1.2%, while 2,559,157 opted for international connections, which grew at a rate of 7.3%.

According to Aena, the markets with the highest demand in absolute terms were the UK, with 702,883 passengers, followed some way behind by Germany, with 215,989; Italy, with 170,770; France, with 163,992; and the Netherlands, with 149,782.

International demand has also been key to achieving unprecedented figures for the first seven months of the year. "Of the 16,248,858 passengers who travelled on commercial flights between January and July, 2,675,509 were travelling to or from destinations within Spain, representing a 5.1% increase, while 13,573,349 were travelling abroad, a 7% increase," Aena reports.

The Costa del Sol Airport ranks fourth in Spain in terms of passenger numbers. According to Aena, only Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, which recorded the highest number of passengers in July at 6,466,823, representing a 4.8% increase compared with the same month last year, surpasses it.

It is followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, with 5,871,137 passengers and a 6% rise, and Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 4,696,690 passengers and a 2.2% increase.

Aena reports that, in July, the airports in its network in Spain handled 34,406,581 passengers, 5% more than in the same month of 2025. In addition, control towers managed 284,423 aircraft movements, 6.1% more than in July 2025, and 109,457 tonnes of cargo were handled, 4.5% less than in July last year.

Also this past July, the Costa del Sol had the highest ever number of direct flights. The 65 airlines operating from Malaga offered direct flights to 163 cities around the world.

This ensures that Malaga Airport remains the fourth in Spain in terms of the number of direct air links.

Furthermore, in terms of volume, Malaga Airport has established itself on routes to more distant and strategic markets and among passengers with greater purchasing power: New York, Doha, Istanbul, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, among others.

This has also led airlines to step up their operations at Malaga Airport during this summer season, which began at the end of March and will run until October. They have increased the number of seats available for flights from Malaga by 8.6%, bringing total air capacity up to 22.4 million seats.

According to the Spanish airlines association, Malaga Airport grows above the average in Spain, which is 5.7%.

August also looks promising. The first weekend of what is traditionally the peak holiday month saw almost 2,000 flights, according to Aena. The August holiday exodus got under way with 679 departures and arrivals. Over those three days, activity at the airport was 4.3% higher than last year.

As in 2025, international traffic was key to this upturn. Aena's figures show that of the 1,954 flights scheduled by airlines from that Friday until the Sunday, 1,586 were to or from an airport outside Spain. The remaining 368 were flights connecting Spanish cities.

Read dedicated local reporting for Malaga city