Malaga Airport expansion 2026: what the capacity work means for Costa del Sol property

Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport is running close to its 30-million-passenger ceiling, and Aena has committed roughly EUR 1.5 billion under its DORA III plan (2027 to 2031) to lift capacity to 36 million. The airport processed a record 26.76 million passengers in 2025, up 7.4 per cent on 2024, making it Spain’s fourth-busiest airport and the primary international gateway into Andalusia. For a property buyer, the expansion matters because Malaga Airport channels 81.1 per cent of all foreign tourist arrivals to the region, and foreign buyers took 32.3 per cent of Malaga province home purchases in Q4 2025. More non-Schengen capacity and new long-haul routes widen the buyer pool that ultimately bids for Costa del Sol property.

How many passengers does Malaga Airport handle in 2026?

Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport closed 2025 with 26,760,549 passengers, a 7.4 per cent increase on 2024 and the highest annual figure in its 105-year history, according to Aena’s own 2025 traffic report. The airport handled 186,990 aircraft operations, up 6.9 per cent, and processed a record 6,255,861 checked bags. International traffic dominated: 22,248,605 passengers flew on international connections (up 7.8 per cent), while 4,465,870 travelled on domestic routes (up 5.5 per cent).

The UK remained the largest source market with 6,149,697 passengers in 2025, followed by Germany (2,012,019), the Netherlands (1,631,525), Italy (1,397,672) and France (1,386,610). The fastest-growing markets were the UAE (up 75.7 per cent), Iceland (up 59.2 per cent), Qatar and Egypt (both up 39 per cent), and the Czech Republic (up 32.4 per cent). These growth rates in Gulf and North African markets signal the diversification Aena’s DORA III expansion is designed to accommodate.

In April 2026, Malaga Airport reached 2.6 million passengers for the first time, a 9.5 per cent year-on-year increase that pushed it to third place among Spanish airports for the first four months of the year, behind only Madrid (5.78 million) and Barcelona (5.10 million). The first four months of 2026 totalled 7.7 million passengers through the airport, up 7.4 per cent on the same period in 2025.

What is the DORA III expansion plan for Malaga Airport?

DORA III is Aena’s Airport Regulation Document covering 2027 to 2031, the regulatory framework that governs investment and charges across Spain’s 46-airport network. Aena’s board approved the DORA III proposal in 2026, proposing EUR 12,888 million in total network investment, of which EUR 9,991 million is regulated investment included in the document. For Malaga specifically, the expansion carries an approximate EUR 1.5 billion price tag and targets a capacity increase from 30 million to 36 million passengers per year.

The Council of Ministers is due to approve the final DORA III document by September 2026. Design and environmental processing run through 2027, with the heaviest construction scheduled between 2028 and 2031. The airport remains fully operational throughout the works. Aena has framed the investment as a response to infrastructure stress rather than an optional upgrade: the current terminal complex approaches its technical ceiling, and at 2025 growth rates the 30 million threshold is reached within roughly two years.

Malaga Airport expansion: confirmed capacity figures

Metric	Current	Post-expansion (target 2031)	Change
Annual passenger capacity	30 million	36 million	+20 per cent
Terminal floor area	80,000 m2	140,000 m2	+75 per cent
Departure passport control	Baseline	515 per cent larger	+515 per cent
Security screening area	Baseline	112 per cent larger	+112 per cent
Non-Schengen boarding area	Baseline	381 per cent larger	+381 per cent
Schengen flights area	Baseline	126 per cent larger	+126 per cent
Commercial and retail space	Baseline	41 per cent larger	+41 per cent
VIP lounge space	Baseline	43 per cent larger	+43 per cent
Project management contract	EUR 36.5m (2025)	EUR 63.1m (2026 reopened)	Resumed April 2026

Source: Aena DORA III proposal and Sur in English reporting on Aena board approvals (July 2025, April 2026).

The headline figure, a 6 million passenger uplift, understates the real gain. Aena’s technical sources explained that the binding constraint is not total annual throughput but peak-hour capacity in the most restrictive subsystem. Expanding security filters, passport control and gate count is what unblocks the whole airport at busy periods, not a simple floor area addition.

What infrastructure work is confirmed for Malaga Airport?

The confirmed works, drawn from Aena’s board-approved plans and the reopened April 2026 tender, include demolition of the disused T1 and the existing non-Schengen docks (Areas B and C), replaced by a new docking platform with centralised border control. Terminal surface area grows from 80,000 to approximately 140,000 square metres. New taxiways improve air traffic flow on the ground, and parking facilities expand. The runways themselves have sufficient capacity and are not being extended.

The EUR 63.1 million project management contract, reopened for bidding on 10 April 2026 after a November 2025 legal halt, covers five years of supervision, coordination and technical management. Companies have until 7 May 2026 to submit bids. This consultancy role exists to ensure construction proceeds without disrupting daily operations at an airport that handled 26.7 million passengers in 2025.

A separate EUR 42 million investment in a new north access road from Malaga’s Hiperronda (the A-7/MA-30 loop) is in final design, with public consultation planned for the first half of 2026. The environmental report is favourable. This road project, separate from the airport works themselves, improves ground access and reduces the surface congestion that a larger airport would otherwise generate.

How does Malaga Airport expansion affect Costa del Sol property demand?

The link between airport capacity and property demand runs through the buyer pool. Malaga Airport processes 81.1 per cent of all foreign tourist arrivals to Andalusia, according to the Junta de Andalucia’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism data. Foreign buyers accounted for 32.3 per cent of Malaga province property transactions in Q4 2025, the third-highest provincial share in Spain behind Alicante (45.7 per cent) and the Balearic Islands (32.8 per cent), per the Colegio de Registradores’ Q4 2025 registry statistics. Nationally, foreign buyers reached a record 97,300 transactions in 2025, 13.8 per cent of all Spanish home sales.

The expansion targets the non-Schengen bottleneck specifically. The UK, Malaga’s largest source market with over 6.1 million passengers in 2025, sits outside the Schengen area, which means every UK arrival and departure passes through passport control. A 515 per cent increase in departure passport control capacity directly addresses the constraint that limits growth in UK and other non-EU traffic. For property, the UK is also the largest single group of foreign buyers in Spain (8.57 per cent of foreign purchases in Q4 2025), so easing that bottleneck supports the buyer flow into Marbella rental yields and the wider coast.

New long-haul routes compound the effect. United Airlines operates the direct Newark to Malaga service (seasonal), and Turespain’s 2026 connectivity report confirms United now reaches six Spanish destinations including Malaga. The 2025 summer season connected Malaga to 156 destinations across 52 airlines on 259 routes, with almost 21 million seats, a 10 per cent increase on 2024. Faster-growing Gulf markets (UAE up 75.7 per cent, Qatar up 39 per cent) point to the Middle East buyer interest that the new non-Schengen docking platform is built to accommodate.

Which Costa del Sol sub-markets benefit most from better connectivity?

The airport sits at the eastern end of the Costa del Sol, and the western sub-markets, Marbella and Estepona, are those where foreign buyer concentration is highest and where connectivity improvements matter most. The rental yield profile across Marbella runs roughly 3.5 to 6.5 per cent gross depending on area, and the investment case depends on a steady flow of UK and Northern European arrivals to sustain both the rental market and the resale buyer pool. Estepona golf property and the Mijas to Fuengirola corridor, covered in the Mijas and Fuengirola value guide, sit closer to the airport and benefit from shorter transfer times, a factor that weighs on holiday-let occupancy.

The Torremolinos zone nearest the airport, including Los Alamos, already commands premium asking prices partly on airport proximity. The expansion reinforces that corridor’s position as the first arrival point for international visitors, which supports both rental demand and the short-let market there. Further west, the benefit is less about transfer time and more about total route network: more direct flights from the Gulf and North America bring buyer cohorts that historically had to connect through Madrid or Barcelona.

What is the timeline and what remains unconfirmed?

Aena’s stated timeline runs design and environmental processing through 2027, with intensive construction between 2028 and 2031. The DORA III document itself must clear the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the National Commission on Markets and Competition, and the Airport Coordination Committees of the autonomous communities before the Council of Ministers approves it, due by September 2026 at the latest. Until that approval, the figures are Aena’s proposal, not a final budget.

What is confirmed: the EUR 63.1 million management contract is live, the functional study is complete, and the board has authorised the tender. What is not confirmed: the exact phasing of construction, the final cost (EUR 1.5 billion is an estimate subject to DORA III approval), and whether a second airport or satellite facility will be needed after 2031. Aena’s experts told SUR that the DORA III expansion exhausts the airport’s available land: “This is as far as Malaga Airport can go.” Post-2031 growth would require the Airport City project in Alhaurin de la Torre, a second site at Antequera, or using Granada Airport as a satellite, all of which are proposals rather than committed plans.

What should a property investor take from this?

The expansion is a confirmed, board-approved infrastructure commitment backed by Aena’s own investment cycle, not a political aspiration. It addresses the specific bottleneck (non-Schengen capacity, dominated by UK traffic) that most directly affects the foreign buyer flow into Costa del Sol property. The 2025 record of 26.76 million passengers, the 7.4 per cent growth rate, and the 81.1 per cent share of Andalusian foreign arrivals all establish that the demand base is already at capacity. The DORA III works ensure the airport can continue to absorb that demand rather than becoming a constraint on it.

For a buyer weighing the retirement and relocation decision, the expansion means the direct-flight network that makes the Costa del Sol accessible is set to widen, not shrink, over the 2027 to 2031 window. The Gulf and North American route growth, visible in the 2025 passenger data, points to buyer cohorts beyond the traditional UK and Nordic markets. That diversification is what supports property demand resilience over the expansion period and beyond.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and individual circumstances differ. Verify current requirements with an independent lawyer (abogado) or tax advisor (gestor/asesor fiscal) before acting.