Malaga-Costa del Sol airport in Spain has record year with nearly 20 million passengers handled

Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport handled just under 20 million passengers in 2019 making it the busiest year ever. 

A growth of 4.4 per cent in travellers led to it dealing with 19,856,299, passengers, both international and domestic. This means that the airport celebrated its centenary in style. 

The year was marked by several milestones, such as over 400 million passengers served since its inauguration in September 1919, and the first September in which the number of passengers exceeded 2 million, in addition to the record for baggage handled. 

Operations were also at historic levels, with the volume of landings and take-offs totalling 144,920, 2.5 per cent more than the previous year. 

The vast majority of travellers recorded during 2019 travelled on commercial flights, totalling 19,798,215. Of these, 16,851,281 opted for connections with origin or destination in a foreign city, representing an increase of 4 per cent over the previous year. The dynamism of the foreign segment was helped by a 2.1 per cent growth in international operations, which amounted to 111,776. 

The remaining 2,946,934 passengers travelled within Spain’s borders, which consolidated the strength of the domestic market. In fact, the number of passengers flying to Spanish cities in 2019 rose by 7.5 per cent compared to 2018. A similar progression followed with the volume of movements between Malaga and other Spanish airports, which rose to 28,795 operations, 6.8 per cent more than last year. 

By destination, the United Kingdom maintained its leadership in 2019, with 5,856,480 passengers (+2.2 per cent), followed by the domestic market, Germany (1,585,012 passengers), France (1,207,230), the Netherlands (1,124,480) and Ireland (892,290). 

In addition to these records, other equally positive ones were added, such as checked-in baggage, which amounted to 5,384,302, with August being the month with the most luggage handled (672,167). 

As for December’s traffic statistics, they followed the positive trend of the rest of the year, with 1,136,687 passengers and a 2.9 per cent increase compared to the same month in 2018. 

Of the 1,128,703 users who travelled on commercial flights, 905,348 did so on connections abroad (+2.5 per cent) and 223,355 on domestic flights (+2.6 per cent). As far as operations are concerned, Malaga airport managed 9,024 flights last month.