Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
BRITS travelling through Malaga Airport say they faced ‘chaos’ at passport control over the weekend, with queues for UK flights stretching back into the public areas of Terminal 3.
Several passengers reported that they were forced to wait in line for such a long time, some even missed their flights. They had to stay the night at the Costa del Sol to try to fly again the next morning.
One traveller said the queue for British passports was ‘way back to the cafe area’, adding she had ‘never seen it like this before’.
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Another urged people to ‘give yourself plenty of time to get through passport control’, while others described a ‘huge’ queue ‘just to reach the booths’.
A passenger posted a picture of the crowds waiting in the UK lane at 10.20am, Saturday, and wrote: “Oh, the joy of Brexit.”
Other people claimed to have waited in line for up to two hours. One family, who joined the queue at 10am, missed their 12.20pm flight.
A traveller from Estepona said the ‘set up is just madness’ and that they were forced to stay an extra night.
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Malaga Airport, in the process of implementing new border-control technologies linked to EU’s Entry Exit System (which will require that non EU citizens register their fingerprints as well as a facial picture upon arrival or exit), has caused frustration.
Many passengers have reported that scanners installed last summer are now activated and slowing the flow of travelers as staff get used to the new system.
The chaos at the airport has also revealed the difference between peak travel times and off-peak travel.
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Some passengers reported being ‘through in ten minutes’, while others found passport control ‘completely empty’ later in the afternoon with ‘six staff on and not one passenger’.
The unpredictable waits have fuelled anger among travellers, with some calling for the UK to ‘reciprocate the treatment’.
Malaga Airport, which closed out October with the highest-ever passenger figures, is now announcing a new partnership.
Aena’s latest data shows an average of 83,000 passengers per day used the airport last month. This equates to 2,576,610 travellers.
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Malaga is now one of the most rapidly growing airports in Spain. The national average for growth is 4.5%.
This October, traffic was comparable to summer peak times. It added pressure during a season that’s usually considered more calm.
The UK market accounted for more than 614,000 arrivals & departures, making it the largest segment of international traffic at the airport.
Malaga has handled 23.3 millions passengers in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 7.3% over 2024.
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If the current trend continues, the airport will finish 2025 with over 27 million travellers.
Aena states that strong demand on both the domestic and international routes has led to the rapid growth, including notable spikes in countries like Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic and Morocco.
For Brits who were caught in this week’s queues, these numbers provided little comfort. Instead, they encouraged fellow travellers to arrive earlier and prepare for delays.
Click here for more Spain News by The Olive Press.
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