Malaga Airport News June 2026: We update you with interesting, summarised information about what´s new this month at the popular Costa del Sol airport.
Qatar Airways resumes direct flights between Malaga and Doha
The airline suspended the route on March 2 due to the outbreak of the war in Iran. Malaga has now regained its direct flight connection with Doha, the Qatari capital.
The carrier is resuming this route—which it will maintain year-round—albeit with varying frequencies depending on the season.
Initially, flights will operate every day of the week, with the exception of Tuesdays and Saturdays. Starting June 16, however, the airline will begin operating this route on a daily basis.
This schedule will remain in effect until September 10, at which point frequencies will be reduced to three flights per week. These flights will operate on Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays.
It is worth noting that Qatar Airways is the only airline from the Persian Gulf region to operate year-round at Malaga Airport.
The ‘Safe Haven Destination’ Effect will boost bookings to the Costa del Sol this summer
Various tourism reports confirm a shift of travellers toward the Mediterranean in light of the military conflict in the Persian Gulf.
Data suggests that the Costa del Sol will benefit this summer from an influx of “borrowed tourists”—visitors diverted from other countries impacted by the conflict in Iran. The “safe haven destination” effect is already beginning to be felt, coinciding almost exactly with growing uncertainty regarding the possibility of kerosene shortages at certain European airports.
Airlines such as Wizz Air have taken note of this trend. This carrier now ranks as the fifth-busiest airline in terms of passenger traffic at Malaga Airport, where it has increased its flight capacity by 25% for the current high season. This translates to an offering of two million seats for flights connecting to 17 cities across nine different countries.
Emirates restores most of Its routes, but with fewer seats
The airline has resumed operations across 96% of its network, though its capacity currently stands at 75% compared to pre-conflict figures in the Middle East.
Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, is returning nearly to normal. The carrier has progressively resumed its services, restoring 96% of the routes it operated prior to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. However, the company is maintaining reduced capacity, offering 75% of the seats available before the disruption to flights.
The resumption of Emirates’ routes follows the reopening of United Arab Emirates airspace, which had been closed in the wake of the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran—an event that impacted the region’s major airlines. Emirates is headquartered in Dubai, the world’s busiest airport for international traffic, serving as a vital link between East and West.
The Emirati carrier maintains a “flexible” booking policy. This means that tickets purchased after April 2 are eligible for a free date change, and those who have made a reservation can lock in a fare for 24 hours at no cost.
Ryanair calls on spanish Government to postpone EU Entry/Exit System (EES) passport controls
Ryanair is requesting that the Spanish government postpone the implementation of the system until September. The cairline is citing delays at Malaga Airport – which currently exceed one hour – that are causing some passengers to miss their flights.
According to the low-cost carrier—the dominant airline at Malaga Airport—passengers are enduring long queues at passport control and, in some instances, missing their flights.
Gulf Air to resume direct flights between Malaga and Bahrain this summer
Gulf Air will resume its direct flights between Malaga and Bahrain this summe. The route will be operational from June 17 to September 25. The airline will thus enhance connectivity between the Costa del Sol and the Middle East during the peak tourist season.
Furthermore, it facilitates connections to various destinations across the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and Asia via Bahrain Airport.
The service will operate with two weekly frequencies. Flights departing from Malaga will take off on Thursdays and Saturdays at 1:40 pm, landing in Bahrain at 9:55 pm. In the reverse direction, flights will depart from Bahrain on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:05 pm, arriving in Malaga at 5:35 am.
Air Maroc flight suspensions due to fuel crisis affect connections with Malaga
The fuel crisis has forced Morocco’s flag carrier, Royal Air Maroc, to temporarily suspend several flights bound for destinations in Africa and Europe—including Barcelona and Malaga.
In a statement, the airline explained that it has taken measures to “adapt its international network” in response to the “sharp rise in the price of jet fuel—a direct consequence of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East”—and to “a decline in demand on certain routes.”
Among the affected connections are flights from Tangier to the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Malaga, as well as routes from Marrakech to the French cities of Marseille, Lyon, Bordeau, and to Brussels, Belgium.
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.
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.
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