article_detail

It has been nearly 20 years since the idea of a northern access road to Málaga Airport was first floated, yet as another busy summer travel season approaches, drivers are once again facing gridlock and frustration just to reach one of Spain’s busiest terminals.

 

Despite a succession of eight different Transport Ministers having the project on their desks since 2005, the long-awaited road link still hasn’t made it past the planning stage. Last month, a key step was finally taken when Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE) published approval for the Environmental Impact Statement. This paves the way for construction to be put out to tender, with the most recent estimate placing the cost of the project at more than €42 million.

 

But there is still no timeline for when work might begin… or end, for that matter. That uncertainty is frustrating not only regular passengers but also local taxi drivers, tourism leaders and regional politicians who say the situation is already beyond breaking point.

 

“We have been reporting these traffic jams for years,” said Javier Hernández, vice president of Costa del Sol hotel association Aehcos. “The situation is increasingly disastrous. It is no longer seasonal - it happens all year round, even in November or February.”

 

The northern access road was first ordered for study in 2005 by then-Minister for Transport Magdalena Álvarez. Since then, nearly two decades have passed, during which time the airport has doubled its passenger traffic, from 12.6 million in 2005 to 24.9 million in 2023. Yet the outdated road system remains more or less the same.

 

According to the latest plans, the new road would handle between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles daily, easing more than half of the airport’s inbound and outbound traffic. But the route has repeatedly been delayed due to political changes, missed deadlines and technical oversights. One major issue was a failure to include the nearby metropolitan distribution road, which is managed by the Andalucian regional government and now appears to have been quietly dropped from its infrastructure plans.

 

In the meantime, those trying to get to and from the airport are paying the price. At peak times, queues of over a kilometre can form, with waits of 15 to 30 minutes to exit. Taxi drivers say the jams are now constant and describe the situation as “chaotic” and “absurd”.

 

Javier Salas, the government’s sub-delegate in Málaga, claimed the project is now moving more quickly thanks to a simplified environmental approval process. But that “simplified” system still took over a year, from February 2024 to May 2025, rather than the maximum three months it should have, leaving many doubtful that any real progress is being made.

 

“We have more congestion because we have more passengers - it is common sense,” said Jacobo Florido, Málaga’s tourism councillor. “Whatever they say, the airport is becoming too small for us. The northern access still doesn’t exist, and mobility problems always damage the destination.”

 

As holiday traffic ramps up again, it seems the only thing moving fast around Málaga Airport is the growing frustration.

 

Image: Archive