Malaga Airport reaches record 2.6 million passengers in April after 9.5% increase

Malaga Airport reached a new milestone in April, surpassing the 2.5-million-passenger mark for the first time and reaching 2.6 million, according to Aena (Spain's airport operator) data.

This represents a 9.5% increase, a growth rate well above the national average, which rose by 3.7%. It puts Malaga at the forefront of Spain's major airports, making it the third busiest in terms of passenger volume for the first four months of the year, with 7.7 million passengers, 7.4% more than in the same period of 2025.

The surge in Easter week, part of which fell in April as in 2024, and the increased demand for air travel due to the high-speed rail service disruptions have driven this record-breaking figure.

In April 2025, the airport recorded 2.3 million passengers and 16,569 landings and takeoffs. This represented a 10.4% increase in passengers and a 9% increase in operations, compared to the same period in 2024.

This surge was key to surpassing 7.1 million passengers in the first four months of the year, aboard almost 51,500 flights. It placed Malaga Airport third in the country in terms of passenger volume, only preceded by Madrid and Barcelona.

"This positive result was due to the strong performance of both domestic and international traffic," Aena stated.

The majority of passengers last month travelled on commercial flights, totalling 2,611,383. Of these, 413,120 travelled within Spain (an increase of almost 13%), while 2,198,263 opted for international connections (a 9% increase).

According to Aena, a total of 17,681 flights landed and took off at Malaga Airport, an increase of 6.7% compared to April 2025. Of these, 3,470 were flights between Spanish airports (+6.6%) and 13,994 were flights between international airports (+7.6%).

The UK remains the main source of tourists for the Costa del Sol. Aena recorded 603,726 passengers to or from the UK. Germany followed, with 199,097, then the Netherlands, with 156,986.

The markets with the highest demand in absolute terms across Spain during the first four months of 2026 were the British, with almost 1.6 million passengers, and, further behind, the German (577,285), the Dutch (460,499) and the Italian (383,182).

According to Aena, passenger traffic across its network of Spanish airports reached 28,284,768 passengers in April, a 3.7% increase compared to the same month in 2025. This represents "lower growth than the 6.3% increase between April 2024 and April 2025". Furthermore, the network managed 242,424 aircraft movements during this period, a 6.7% increase compared to April 2025.

In April, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport ranked ahead of Malaga Airport with 5,776,833 passengers, representing a 3.3% increase; Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport followed with 5,103,478 passengers, a 4.1% increase; and Palma de Mallorca Airport attended to 3,089,279 passengers, a 2.6% rise.

In the first four months of the year, however, Malaga Airport climbed one position to become the third busiest in Spain in terms of passenger traffic. Aena reported that, from January to April, 93,915,918 passengers used Spanish airports (+3.3%). During this period, there were 807,211 aircraft movements (+3.1%).