Alex Trelinski
MALAGA AIRPORT recorded 2.2 million passengers in October- 17.1% more than a year ago, according to airport operator Aena.
For the first ten months of this year, the number of passengers is close to 20 million, an increase of 20.8% over the same period of 2022, with 11.7% extra flights.
As of October 31, 19.4 million passengers had used the airport and all indications are that the 20 million barrier will be broken before the end of November.
It means that Malaga remains the third busiest mainland airport in the Aena network, only surpassed by Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona El Prat, as well as the fourth in Spain, overtaken by Palma de Mallorca.
Aena said there were 15,585 flights departing from or arriving on the Costa del Sol, which represents ‘a year-on-year increase’ of 10.5%.
“The growth in activity at the airport is down to the good performance of both domestic and foreign traffic,” said Aena in a statement.
The United Kingdom still leads international passengers by a long way, even though the numbers have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Up to 541,000 passengers were British nationals in October, followed by 182,000 from Germany.
The next countries producing the highest number of international visitors were the Netherlands, with almost 130,000 travellers in October; France, with another 128,000; and Ireland, with more than 102,000.
Malaga also expects a good flow of visitors from the US this winter and, in addition, it has brought forward its direct connection with New York from June to May next year.
