The gateway to the Costa del Sol, Málaga airport, is preparing for another bumper summer as airlines make 15.5 million seats available from now until the end of October, an increase of 13% on the same period last year.
Málaga airport, preparing for record visitors to the Costa del Sol
With 52 airlines offering 15.5 million seats on flights to 126 destinations, if schedules are anything to go by, and they always are when predicting Costa del Sol tourism numbers, 2017 looks like being another record year.
Whilst admitting many factors could influence demand, the airports director Salvador Merino revealed the airport will handle up to 500 flights per day with as many as 90,000 flights scheduled between May to October, putting it on course to handle more than 18 million passengers in 2017. The previous year saw 16.6 million Costa del Sol holidaymakers and homebuyers pass through Málaga airport, itself a 15% increase on the 13.7 million visitors in 2015.
Of the 126 destinations serviced by Málaga airport, Brits still dominate with 62 routes bringing travellers from the UK to the Costa del Sol, itself a 9% increase on last year, however a number of additional flight routes are being added to Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, flights between Málaga and Italy and Málaga and Germany have increased 20% and there is also rapidly increasing demand from the USA and Canada. All of which serves to demonstrate the growing appeal of southern Spain and the Costa del Sol as a destination for holidaymakers and property buyers.