Coming to the Costa del Sol in December? Here you find Malaga airport news for December 2025 and further useful information.
Historic Record of 25 million Passengers
Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport surpassed an unprecedented milestone at the end of November: 25 million passengers in Malaga in a single year. This is the highest annual volume recorded since the airport began operations.
The historic milestone was celebrated in the Arrivals Hall. There traditional Malaga cakes were distributed to the passengers present.
And the year is not over yet: We expect for December and the Christmas holidays in Malaga almost full hotels.
The tourism sector expects to close out a record-breaking 2025 with a completely full December, both on the coast and inland in the province.
New Satellite-Based Approach Systems
Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport has taken another step forward in modernizing its airspace management: It now has new approach manoeuvres based on the use of satellite navigation systems for approach and landing procedures.
These are especially useful in adverse weather conditions or low visibility.
First Passenger Drone Test
As we reported in our article The future arrives with Malaga Airport Air Taxi: Malaga is positioning itself as a pioneering city in passenger drone transport.
There are plans for routes between the Costa del Sol airport and destinations such as: Luxury hotels on the Costa del Sol, Marbella, Puerto Banús, Sotogrande and even Ceuta. The corridors for these operations are already being designed to be compatible with traditional flight paths.
Now, the first tests have been carried out between Malaga and Granada. They explore the routes and procedures of a piloted air taxi or autonomous cargo drones.
The future “flying taxi” service is expected to begin operating around 2030. The estimated cost is around €100 per trip. And a journey time will 20 minutes between the airport and Marbella.
Will you dare to hop on one and fly?
Record-Breaking Winter
Malaga Airport is expecting a record-breaking winter. There will be 135 destinations in 34 countries until March 28, 2026—seven more than last year.
The United Kingdom remains the most connected country, representing 47 of the 217 direct routes to the Costa del Sol and with London having the most flights. Germany, France, Poland, and Ireland are the four fastest-growing destinations, with more flights than ever to Malaga.
Special: New EU Entry/Exit System (EES)
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.
