Málaga Airport records 7% increase in passenger numbers at beginning of 2018

Málaga Airport, officially Spain’s fourth-busiest all year round, has got off to a flyer in 2018.

The gateway to the Costa del Sol, Málaga’s vast and glistening airport, is rarely quiet. With Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Marbella, Puerto Banús and Estepona all lined up along the coast on the one side, and the city of Málaga and the pretty resort of Nerja to the other, the airport is perfectly located to serve one of Spain’s prettiest and most popular corners…

So it should come as little surprise that passenger numbers in the first quarter of 2018 were 7.1% higher than during the corresponding period in 2017.

In total, in the three months through to March 31, Málaga Airport handled 3,193,468 passengers, arriving and departing on 25,398 flights.

For the month of March alone, that figure was 1,294,374 passengers, representing a 7.9% increase on March 2017, with more than one million of those arrivals originating from overseas.

In terms of operations (the number of flights being handled by the airport), this figure was also higher than last year, up 6.7% over the first quarter, and 8.7% in March alone.

According to the official data published by AENA, 31 March was the busiest day, with 449 landings and takeoffs registered over a 24-hour period, making the airport one of the busiest in Spain.

Airport data published last year found that Málaga Airport registered a 15.7% increase in passenger numbers in 2016 compared to 2015, with 16.6 million passengers recorded over the course of 12 months.

The data for 2017 will certainly be higher, and the signs are already strong that this year will be yet another record-breaker for passenger volumes passing through the airport, especially as new mid- and long-haul routes continue to be announced.