Airport Guide

History of Malaga Airport

Malaga boasts one of the oldest airports in Spain, having been established back in 1919 and serving as a base for both domestic and international flights, such as those to Tangier and Casablanca, during the 1920s and 1930s.

After around a decade of being used solely for military purposes, Malaga Airport was once again opened to civilian traffic in 1946, and hasn't looked back since.

Most notably, the airport has grown firstly on the back of the south of Spain's emergence as a major tourism destination in the late 1960s, and then as a result of the low-cost flights revolution of the 1990s.

This growth meant a new passenger terminal was opened in 1996, with this followed by a new control tower and a state-of-the-art Terminal 3 in 2002 and 2010 respectively.

It is hoped that the third terminal will help double the number of passengers passing through Malaga Airport from the current level of just over 11.5 million a year.

Travelling to Malaga Airport

Despite being constructed well before the south of Spain became a major package holiday destination, Malaga Airport nevertheless offers excellent public transport links.

The majority of passengers jetting into the airport then make use of the regular Cercanias Malaga train service running between the terminal buildings and Malaga city centre.

Meanwhile, those tourists heading for nearby Marbella are able to make use of a direct bus link, though many hotels or tour operators offer their own connections to the nearby resorts.

In line with its expansion plans, work on a new public transport infrastructure serving Malaga Airport is now well underway.

This will see the introduction of an underground railway station at the airport, enabling suburban trains to serve the terminals, thereby offering enhanced access to the city centre and its surrounding suburbs.

Airlines Flying from Malaga Airport

As one of Europe's most-popular leisure travel destinations, Malaga Airport welcomes dozens of airlines, including both low-cost carriers and larger flag-flyers.

Ryanair currently boasts the biggest presence on the Malaga tarmac, and by some way.

The budget airline offers cheap flights to more than 20 destinations across Europe, including Berlin, Bologna, Brussels, Birmingham, Dublin, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds-Bradford, London, Paris, Stockholm and Wroclaw, among numerous others.

Likewise, fellow cheap airlines Air Berlin and easyJet operate dozens of routes to and from Malaga, as do the smaller bmibaby, Climber Sterling, Jet2.com, Jetairfly and Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Alongside the cheap airlines, national carriers such as Air Finland, Austrian Airlines, Aer Lingus, Alitalia and Lufthansa offer direct flights to most of the major European cities.

Going further afield, Aeroflot flies to Moscow, while Delta offers seasonal connections to New York, and Kuwait Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines fly to their respective capitals.

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