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The airlines that operate at Malaga Airport have scheduled the largest number of flights for the upcoming high season - an initiative that will push the facility through a second, even greater historic year than 2024 proved to be. Almost 21 million seats will be offered on the 114,000 flights that will fly to and from the Costa del Sol. These figures represent an increase in both seats and flights operated, by 10% and 8.2%, respectively, compared to those in the same period in 2024. On top of that, Spain's airport operator Aena has announced that Malaga Airport will be connected to 156 destinations via the operations of 52 airlines, twenty more than those in 2024. Aircraft will fly a total of 259 routes.
It should be noted that the peak season doesn't simply encompass the summer, as it starts on the last Sunday of March and ends in the final days of October.
The connections between Spain and the rest of Europe will make up the majority of those operations. Of the total number of routes 210 are to and from European countries and 31 are to and from different Spanish airports. However, this summer, further steps will be taken to improve connectivity beyond these markets. Aena's data highlights the consolidation of connections to other markets, such as the African continent, with eleven routes; the Middle East, with five; North America, with two, including the direct daily flight to New York, operated by United Airlines, which will begin operating on 2 May until the end of September.
In regard to operations between Spanish cities, the volume of scheduled commercial operations rises to 23,600, with more than 3.5 million seats available. In 2024, airlines had already increased the offer by 20.7% more flights, which raised the volume of scheduled commercial operations to over 21,890 and increased the number of seats available for travel within Spain's borders to almost 3.3 million, 9.8% more than in the 2023 high season.
114,000
flights will operate on the runways of Malaga airport in the coming high season.
However, connections to foreign European cities comprise the core business of Malaga Airport, which continues to expand in terms of destinations. Aena has stated that "the growing offer of flights and seats to European destinations will strengthen the connections between Malaga amd Europe this summer, with more than 16.3 million seats and 86,000 operations." In comparison, 2024 witnessed an already historic expansion to more than 15.7 million seats and 83,230 operations.
The UK's dominance as the main market for Malaga Airport continues, with 55 of the 259 total routes. Airlines have put nearly 5,000 seats on the market and have planned 26,000 operations with Britain. London remains the city with the most seats and flights offered, with 2,013,600 seats in 10,800 operations. However, as Aena has warned, the schedule "is always subject to change by the airlines".
Ryanair maintains its position as the leading airline in terms of passenger traffic, accounting for 30% of the passengers at Malaga Airport. Elena Cabrera, the Irish company's country manager in Spain, has stated that Ryanair will revalidate the historic figures that we witnessed in 2024. According to Cabrera, this year the airline will connect Malaga Airport with 91 mainly European cities, six more than last summer. Of these, five will be new destinations that the airline has not flown to so far: another airport in Warsaw; Brno, in the Czech Republic; Lübeck, in the north of Germany; Münster, also in Germany; and Teesside, in the north-east of the UK.
Cabrera has also said that, to make this new leap, the company has planned the largest growth of based aircraft in the Spanish network, precisely at Malaga Airport, adding two more based planes to reach a total of 18. Such an increase will create 60 new jobs, bringing the total number of Ryanair jobs at Malaga Airport to about 500, and 5.3 million seats. "Malaga is a key airport for Ryanair. It is in the 'Top 5' in Spain and our aim is to continue expanding. We currently have a 30% share of business in the facility and the aim is to grow again in the winter," said Cabrera.
According to Aena, airlines will have available a total of 246.8 million seats across all of Spain's airports during the upcoming high season, 6.5% more than those in 2024. The Spanish airport operator released its January balance sheet on Thursday 6 February, which confirmed that Malaga Airport has started the year the same way it ended the previous one: gaining passengers. Aena puts the number of passengers at the Costa del Sol airport in January at 1,369,837 - a record that represents almost 2% more than in January 2024, when a 20% growth had already been recorded. At the start of last year, there was also a 0.9% increase in the number of flights operated, bringing the total to 10,423 flights, compared to January 2023.
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