The Costa del Sol airport will offer 14.4% more seats than in record-breaking 2019.
The Malaga-Costa del Sol international airport will be abuzz like never before this summer as all of the major airlines anticipate a bumper season. Between March 26 and October 28, the Andalucía hub will see 99,400 scheduled flights with 17.8 million seats available – that’s an impressive 14.4% more than in pre-pandemic 2019, which was a record year.
And as the airlines continue to bet on the Costa del Sol, it seems entirely possible that Malaga Airport will reach its all-time high of 20 million passengers.
According to Aena, this summer travelers can fly directly to 146 destinations through 254 routes, and the crown jewel will be the new direct flight to New York, which kicks off in June. In a contentious battle, Malaga airport beat off stiff competition from Seville to secure the coveted US route.
While national demand is picking up, the vast majority of traffic through Malaga Airport is international and the undisputed leaders are passengers from the UK which will account for 23,000 flights, 51 routes and 4.5 million seats this summer. The most popular British destination from the Costa del Sol is still London, making up 10,000 of the total scheduled flights.
After Britain, air connections with Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy have all increased for the coming season.
Among the cities most in demand by customers, apart from London, are Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dublin, Melilla, Brussels, Manchester and Stockholm.
“Selling Malaga to the airlines is easy because it has many attractions and we are optimistic: airport director Pedro Bendala said recently.
Yet another record-breaker will be the months of March, April and May, when Andalucia’s airports expect to offer 280,000 more seats than in 2019, according to the regional Tourism Minister Arturo Bernal.
“This does not mean that we have recovered all connectivity, but it does mean that we are really taking giant steps towards that objective that we had at the beginning of 2023 to recover direct connectivity with most European destinations and worldwide to destination Andalusia”, he said.
