In the first quarter of 2023, Malaga airport saw 3.7 million passengers pass through, representing a 9% increase compared to 2019, the last normal year before the pandemic.
This has propelled Malaga to become Spain’s official third busiest airport, behind only Madrid and Barcelona who welcomed 13.4 and 9.9 million people respectively.
British visitors identified as the number one international tourist group, with 303,114 UK passengers passing through.
For last year in 2022, Aena, the state-owned airport management company who manages 46 airports in Spain, reports that Malaga airport has bounced back from the pandemic.
The year closed with Malaga airport having welcomed 18,457,194 passengers, compared to the nearly 20 million in 2019, representing a solid 93% recovery. It also recovered 99.4% of the number of flights that operated to and from in 2019, standing at 144,107.
In respect to market share, the United Kingdom continues to lead the way. Overall, there were total of 4,772,427 recorded passengers who arrived on flights from UK airports. The UK was followed by Germany with 1,217,710; Holland, with 1,132,049; and France, with 1,047,497 passengers.
An Aena spokesman said “This positive evolution is due to the dynamism shown throughout the year by both domestic and international traffic. Most of the passengers counted in 2022 travelled on commercial routes, totalling 18,398,167. Of these, 3,322,375 flew to or from a Spanish city, while the remaining 15,075,792 opted for flights abroad, which accounted for 82% of the total volume of annual commercial passengers.”
The real estate market in the Malaga province is booming and with the market experiencing a general lack of stock, coupled with an ever-growing demand for them, prices are being driven north and sales are vibrant. Malaga is presenting itself as the number one most desirable spot in Europe and the market is reflecting this.
