Walter Finch
SPAIN’S tourism boom is reflected in Malaga Airport’s record-breaking August when 2.6 million visitors flew in, a 9.6% increase on last year.
The largest contributors by far to the nationwide tourism explosion are the Brits, with a quarter of Malaga’s flights last month coming from the UK.
Overall, the airport also saw 18,083 flights in August, a 6.7% increase, with an average of 85,548 passengers passing through daily.
Both domestic and international traffic contributed to this remarkable growth.
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While domestic flights increased by 5.3%, international flights experienced an even more significant surge of 10.7%.
The UK remained the top international market (644,776 passengers), followed by Germany (217,810), France (172,912), the Netherlands (135,690), and Italy (135,690).
However, it was Qatar, Croatia, and Romania that saw the most impressive growth rates, with passenger numbers more than doubling in each of these markets.
The Czech Republic (up 68.6%), Greece (up 59.4%), and Poland (up 58%) also saw huge visitor increases.
The strong August performance has boosted the year-to-date figures for Malaga Airport.
From January to August 2024, a total of 16,805,416 passengers travelled through the airport, a 12.6% increase over the same period last year.
Of these, 2,868,970 were on domestic routes, up 6.5%, while 13,897,135 were international, up 14%.
The airport also managed 117,270 landings and take-offs, up 8.6% from the first eight months of 2023.
Air China is reportedly considering launching three direct flights per week to Malaga, Seville, or Granada from China, potentially further expanding Malaga’s global connectivity.
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