'Demand exceeds expectations': Ryanair on track to carry 5.1 million passengers at Malaga Airport this summer

Pilar Martínez

Malaga

Thursday, 20 June 2024, 08:39

"Malaga does not fail, it always works very well". That was the statement with which Elena Cabrera, Ryanair's Country Manager for Marketing and Sales in Spain and Portugal, summed up the expectations of the company that carries the most passengers at Malaga Airport.

Cabrera has stated categorically that the Irish airline expects to exceed the forecasts set for this high season on the Costa del Sol. "We had very good forecasts, that's why we had increased the offer by 14%, but the demand has exceeded expectations. We expect to carry 5.1 million passengers on the Costa del Sol this summer," she said.

But it also adds a figure that shows the response to a historic schedule in terms of the seats offered by Ryanair, the 90 destinations to which the company flies from Malaga Airport and the 16 aircraft based at these facilities, eleven of them of a new generation that reduce CO2 emissions by 20% and noise pollution by 50%.

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Never before had the Irish low-cost airline made a commitment like this, and even so, the first results highlight the success of this operation. Cabrera pointed to the fact that since April, when this peak period began, Malaga flights are three points above the average occupancy of the Ryanair network in Europe. And that the average figure is 94%, which means that the planes on routes to or from the Costa del Sol fill 97% of their seats. "It is a destination that always performs very well, even though the most important months of July and August have not yet been counted. The rhythm of June has already surprised us", she declared.

It should be remembered that Ryanair has reinforced its operations at Malaga Airport by 14%, which will maintain its market share of moving three out of every ten passengers in this infrastructure, where it has added five new destinations to fly to and from the Costa del Sol. The new proposals are the Italian city of Bari; the capitals of Romania and the Czech Republic, Bucharest and Prague, respectively; the central Polish city and a former textile manufacturing hub, Lodz; and Ostrava, an industrial city in the Czech Republic that is close to the Polish and Lithuanian borders. "This high season we are focusing our reinforcements on the Eastern Europe markets that are experiencing significant growth, with significant increases in frequencies in Poland and Bulgaria," Cabrera pointed out, noting that Malaga Airport is in the 'top 3' of Ryanair's network in Spain, where they operate in 27 facilities.

In this sense, she pointed out the destinations that are in greatest demand and noted that the three most popular this summer are Bucharest, which is already adding up to ten frequencies a week, Bergamo and Liverpool. Cabrera also referenced prices and assured that the average fare on the company's network in Europe is around 48 euros per ticket and that the maximum increase the airline is considering is between 5 and 10%. "The best time to buy tickets is now," she urged.

Ryanair's Country Manager for Marketing and Sales in Spain and Portugal also warns that it is already noticeable that Malaga has become a 'hub' for important technological companies. "The Costa del Sol has worked very well on its brand. There are very good hotel infrastructures as well as air, road and rail infrastructures. It is noticeable in the deseasonalisation because there are more profiles linked to business trips. In addition, we connect with major capitals and that is key for this moment in which the focus of technology has been placed in Malaga," she stressed.

Regarding the winter schedule, which is already being planned, she said that the summer schedule is an important test to determine the routes, capacities and frequencies of the destinations.