Malaga Airport News March 2026: We update you with interesting, summarised information about what´s new this month at the popular Costa del Sol airport.
Start of high season end of March & Easter in Malaga
Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport will start the 2026 summer season on the last Sunday of March (March 29, 2026), with 52 airlines connecting it to 156 destinations. It will run until the end of October.
This year, the start of the season is special, as it coincides with with Holy Week (March 29–April 5).
In other words, from the very beginning we’ll be experiencing a peak in activity. Below we’ll tell you more, especially if you’re coming from outside the Schengen Area and need to go through the new biometric passport control at Malaga Airport.
Easter is considered peak season
When you come to Malaga and the Costa del Sol during Easter, keep in mind that these dates are considered peak season. This not only means high demand but also increased prices for flights, hotels and car rentals.
In addition, the considerable volume of passengers at the airport these days is something to keep in mind. Please allow yourself some extra time, especially to get to the airport for your return flight.
This will help you avoid any unforeseen delays or long queues at the security filtre, for example. If you are arriving from outside the Schengen Area, please pay particular attention to our section below regarding the new biometric control at Malaga Airport.
So if you are planning to come to the Costa del Sol this season, don’t wait too long, to get flights, hotel and car hire in Malaga at reasonable prices!
Malaga Airport suspends flights to the Middle East
Due to the ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf, all scheduled flights to the Middle East have been cancelled. Airlines operating from the Costa del Sol have decided to suspend ticket sales to the region at least until next Wednesday due to the uncertainty surrounding air travel.
A total of 32 flights scheduled in Spain to or from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Jordan, and Qatar have been cancelled. Currently, the airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as Doha in Qatar and Manama in Bahrain, are closed.
Travellers’ rights
The Spanish Consumers Organization reiterated today that basic passenger rights remain fully in force, even in situations of armed conflict or temporary closures of airspace for security reasons.
Airlines must offer affected passengers a real and effective alternative. This includes rebooking on the first available flight to their final destination at no extra cost, or—if the passenger prefers—a full refund.
Furthermore, while awaiting a solution, travellers have the right to receive accommodation when necessary, as well as sufficient meals and refreshments.
Update on the new passport control system at Malaga Airport
We continue to receive numerous user comments, as well as press updates about the new passport control system at Malaga Airport.
Passengers arriving at Malaga airport from the United Kingdom, Morocco, and other destinations outside the Schengen Area frequently encounter a bottleneck in the area where passports of non-EU citizens are checked.
Aena (Spanish Airports and Air Navigation) points out that crowds can occur at specific times. Yet our customers are under a slightly different impression.
In any case, the situation is still far from normal. If you want to travel with maximum peace of mind, you might find our related article and this section below useful.
This is even more important now if your holidays coincide with Easter, when passenger traffic is expected to be as high as in the middle of summer.
Numerous complaints about the new European passport control system
Are you planning to travel through Malaga Airport in the coming weeks? Then this section is likely to be of most interest to you!
As we explained in our article New passport control system at Malaga airport, the Costa del Sol irport implemented the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) in October 2025.
This system, which replaces manual passport stamping with a digital and biometric registration (fingerprints and photo), aims to make checks safer and faster in the future.
But it is currently causing queues, delays, and a sense of insecurity among passengers at Malaga Airport. Several passengers missed their flights after waiting in line for more than two hours.
According to police unions, Malaga has a capacity of around 450 check-ins per hour. Compared to an average arrival volume of 1,200 passengers. Poor signage exacerbates the bottlenecks, even sending resident card holders to the slowest lanes.
Airlines operating on the Costa del Sol have begun advising non-Schengen travellers to arrive at least three hours before departure.
British residents with TIE should not use the new EES
We have received numerous inquiries from passengers who didn’t know which direction to take. And it was extremely difficult to find any information from an official source.
Finally, the Spanish Interior Ministry has confirmed that British residents holding a TIE card must not use the new Entry Exit System queues or automatic gates when entering or leaving the country.
In case you’re wondering what this new abbreviation means: If you are British, live in Spain and hold a TIE residence card (Withdrawal Agreement or another long-stay route), you are EES-exempt.
Thus, you can just join the EU / residents queue, show your passport and your TIE together, like any other legal resident. The national police at the airport have already received this instruction. However, if you speak Spanish, saying “Soy residente con TIE, no debo usar EES” can go a long way at the hectic passport control and especially at peak times.
According to Spain’s Ministry of the Interior, until April 10, 2026, the automated checks will run alongside the traditional passport stamping system for several months. Travellers should anticipate longer queues, especially during peak times.
Valuable tips
Until biometric kiosks are working reliably and staff are fully trained, several tips have emerged that we’d like to share with you.
- Travel with only hand luggage to expedite your journey through security to your gate.
- Allow more time for connections between domestic and international flights to Schengen.
- Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport has launched Aena’s chatbot service, called Oli. It speaks eight languages and is available on WhatsApp. You can download it via a QR code, on aena.es, in the Aena app, and at the main entrance at the airport.
It provides real-time information on both flights and services available at the airport, also allowing the user to be redirected to AenaMaps to guide their passage through the facilities.
Flights to Malaga Summer 2026
We are updating the latest airline flight information for Malaga for summer 2026 as it becomes available.
Here is a summary of the most recent updates for this year.
Jet2.com flights to Malaga
Jet2.com has announced a significant increase in its operations to the Costa del Sol.
Among the new additions is the direct route to London Gatwick, with four weekly flights, bringing the total number of connections to the UK to 12 and the number of weekly flights to 79 during peak season.
Gulf Air flights to Malaga
The Bahraini flag carrier has programmed the return of its seasonal services to Malaga. Gulf Air previously operated seasonal flights to Málaga during the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 summer seasons.
The Bahraini airline will reconnect with the Costa del Sol starting on June 17 and until September 25, 2026.
The route will operate with two weekly frequencies from the airline’s hub at Bahrain International Airport (BIA).
- More about Gulf Air flights to Malaga
Transavia flights to Malaga
Transavia France is the low-cost airline of the Air France-KLM group. The company offers a new connection linking the Costa del Sol with the south of France during summer. It is inaugurating, for the first time, a direct route between Malaga and Montpellier.
The connection will operate during the peak summer season, between July 17 and September 9. Flights will depart weekly every Sunday.
Swiss flights to Malaga
SWISS will deploy the Airbus A340-300 on selected short-haul flights between Zurich and Malaga in summer 2026.
This gives SWISS passengers traveling to Malaga the opportunity to enjoy the approximately 3-hour flight to the sun with the highest comfort of a long-haul flight.
- More about Swiss flights to Malaga
Royal Air Maroc flights to Malaga
Royal Air Maroc has announced an ambitious expansion between Morocco and Spain.
The Moroccan airline operates regular flights from Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport, primarily connecting to Casablanca, as well as Tangier, Nador and Tetouan.
From Tetouan, the airline will operate three new direct flights to Malaga on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
From Tangier, direct flights to Malaga will be starting on July 6, on Mondays and Fridays.
- More about Royal Air Maroc flights to Malaga
Incredible but true: Escalators at the Airport suburban train station the Malaga fully operational again after almost a year
If you’ve been to Malaga Airport in recent years, you’ve probably experienced this too: You arrive at the commuter rail station with all your luggage and dozens of other travellers. Only to find that none of the escalators are working. Again.
That left you with two options: Either carry all your luggage up the stairs. Or wait patiently in the bottleneck that forms in front of the single elevator on each platform.
Unnecessary stress. Especially if you’re short on time. And it also creates a poor impression of a major international airport handling 25 million passengers annually.
Finally, this problem is supposedly resolved permanently by completely renovating the escalators, instead of continuing to wait for spare parts from some Asian country that never arrived.
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