According to the latest data from Aena for the first quarter of 2023, Malaga Airport has surpassed Mallorca's airport in passenger traffic and is now the third-busiest airport in Spain. In addition to being the airport with the highest growth compared to pre-pandemic levels in the first three months of the year, Malaga's strong performance has boosted its rankings due to a high volume of passengers. The airport now trails only Madrid and Barcelona airports.
Malaga Airport, known as the gateway to the Costa del Sol, handled 3.7 million passengers between January and March 2023, representing an increase of almost 9% compared to 2019. Of these passengers, 815,977 travelled on domestic flights within Spain, an increase of 29.1%, while 2,891,639 were international travellers, a 4% increase.
In March 2023, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport registered the highest number of passengers, with 4,821,856, but this figure represented a decrease of 1.7% compared to March before the pandemic. The second-busiest airport was Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 3,762,656 passengers, and Malaga Airport came in third with 1,475,066 passengers, a 9% increase from the pre-pandemic period. Malaga Airport overtook Palma de Mallorca, which saw 1,344,375 passengers, and Gran Canaria, which handled 1,290,562 passengers.