During the last meeting of the Andalusia Autonomous Community Coordination Committee on July 25 they agreed to boost Málaga airport as International hub. CadenaSer informed last Sunday that Aena has been requested to keep this proposal in mind within the marketing plan to open new routes and continue to increase traffic and investments for Málaga airport.
The idea is that Aena suggests Málaga airport for a home base to the international airlines they may meet with. This would mean a significant increase of traffic for the airport, which has availability to reach 30 million passengers per year.
Málaga Airport has availability for up to 30 million passengers per year
This would make Málaga the third international hub within the Spanish airports, after Madrid and Barcelona.
José Carlos Escribano, A representative from the hotel employers said “Málaga airport has a lot of activity, is attractive to investors, is well connected and has plenty of possibilities for big projects thanks to the recent improvement works”.
Also, Antonio Ponce – Chairman of the Andalusian Council for Chambers of commerce said Málaga airport “has everything to become an international hub of transoceanic flights”. In his view, this project is only a matter of time which will eventually come true.
For Antonio Pérez – teacher at the Málaga University and expert in this field – the most interesting thing would be to create an international hub in Málaga for connections with Africa. The benefits from a hub would be operational cost savings and reductions in taxiing time. Non based airlines need to have an airbridge allocated for them to disembark passengers. This is not always a speedy process and aircrafts have to spend time taxiing along the strip.
Therefore, during the next meeting of the Andalusian Airport Coordination Committee, Aena is expected to report on the posibilities for Málaga to become an international hub.
Until June, the airport had contact with 20 airlines. Most of them European airlines. The Aena’s draft considers increasing connections with the hubs in the Middle East. Also, it is being discussed to boost airlines which are interested in a base in Málaga.
The Málaga airport traffic evolution was very good last year. This month of August brought the best ever passenger figures for the airport. 85% of the traffic in Málaga is international. The airport is the second largest in Spain for low cost flights after Barcelona.
Photo: Pablo Ruiz Picaso – Málaga Airport terminal / Leo Hidalgo
