AirMalaga.com News from The Ultimate Independent Malaga Airport Guide

Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA) has launched today at the aerodrome of Málaga a service of airline information via SMS. Thus users can know in which terminal operates their company through this messaging service on their mobile phone.

With the coming into operation of T3 from Malaga airport, many airlines will change their location, so this service will provide users information about where to go, said today the airport operator through a statement.

For this, the traveler simply has to send the name of the airline or the ICAO or IATA codes to the number 27472 and he will receive a reply SMS to his mobile phone. The cost of the message is 0.35 €, VAT included, for users of national carriers.

Also, AENA has enabled a web on the T3 (www.aena.es/t3malaga) in order to publicize the new terminal, which opens to the public next March 16.

Similarly, it has a telephone information service, 902 404 704, for all its users, which is operational 24 hours 365 days a year.

The airline Vueling has announced the increase in the frequency of flights between the cities of Santiago de Compostela and Málaga, including one daily flight which will operate in both directions.

Thus, as confirmed by the company, the option will be available between the 24^th of June and the 14^th of September and will depart daily at 19.40 PM from Santiago to Malaga and in the reverse direction at 17.40 PM.

Similarly, between the 28^th of March and the 23^rd of June will operate flights between the two Spanish cities four days a week – Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays – at 17.55 PM from Santiago to Malaga and at 15.00 PM from Malaga to Santiago.

During the summer season, Vueling will carry out up to 16 daily operations from Santiago to Barcelona, Paris, Zurich and Malaga and 34 from across Galicia to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Paris, Seville, Zurich and Malaga.

Thus, the Spanish low cost company seeks to take advantage of the Compostela Holy Year which attracts thousands of pilgrims willing to do the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), an offer which sums both Spanish and international followers.

Luckily, for many car rentals at Malaga Airport, it is going to become one of the most important airports in Europe and many airlines are already expanding their routes to this destination in the Costa del Sol.

From June 2010 onwards Malaga airport will be the fifth base of operations in Spain of Ryanair.

The project will involve an increase of more than two million passengers per year and an investment of more than 170 million Euros, with four aircrafts in Malaga and 19 new routes.

This new base of operations will start running in June 2010 and will generate about 200 direct jobs with 360 flights a week, including domestic routes to destinations in northern Spain such as Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Valladolid and Zaragoza. With the new European flights Ryanair intensifies the connections with the northern and eastern countries and as well Italy and Paris.

The flights, with a frequency of two or three times per week have the following destinations: Aarhus (Denmark), Bratislava (Slovakia), Krakow and Wroclaw (Poland), Tampere (Finland), Oslo (Norway), Stockholm y Goteborg (Sweden), Eindhoven y Maastricht (Holland), Memmingen and Berlin (Germany), Pisa and Venice (Italy) and Paris (France).

In 2009, Ryanair opened only in Spain 188 new routes, of which 26 are based in Malaga airport.

This new base in Malaga will be the smallest in Spain, although it is estimated that in a few years it will be placed thirdly, after Alicante and Madrid.

The Irish low-cost airline Aer Lingus will schedule seven daily flights to Málaga this summer, providing a capacity of 2,400 seats each day. Moreover, throughout the whole year, there will be a total capacity of more than 740,000 seats.

The airline already disposes of three routes from Malaga with 14 flights per week to Dublin, 7 to Cork and 6 to Belfast. From today on, the company deals with an additional destination – the airport London Gatwick. The flights Málaga-London take off at 10.40, 16.00 and 22.00, whereas planes from London to the Costa del Sol operate at 6.10, 11.30 and 17.30. The route will be covered by an Airbus A320 with a capacity for 174 passengers.

The launch of this daily flight to the capital of the Costa del Sol forms part of the inauguration of the company’s new international base at the airport London Gatwick, the first one outside Ireland, which is supposed to “initiate a profitable growth on the extensive market of the European aviation”. The total investment in the first year will be 114 million euros. Besides, more than 120 new direct workplaces will be created by “recruiting locally pilots and flight attendants”. The general director of Aer Lingus in Spain, Aisling Lyons, is very pleased with this opportunity to amplify the business “and introduce the brand to new markets.”

“London is the major market of Europe’s aviation and we hope to extend our low fares with the quality we provide to many new passengers as part of a superior offer that distinguishes us from our rivals.” Together with this one, Aer Lingus already has 20 routes operating in Spain with direct flights to Dublin from Barcelona, Alicante, Bilbao, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Santiago de Compostela and Tenerife. Direct flights to Cork from Barcelona, Alicante, Lanzarote, Málaga and Tenerife, to Belfast from Barcelona, Málaga and Lanzarote.