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Date Published: 14/08/2023

Murcia International Airport passenger numbers fail to get off the ground

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The airport in Corvera has recorded nearly 500,000 passengers so far this year, but it is still flailing in comparison with 2019

Murcia International Airport passenger numbers fail to get off the ground

Between January and July, the Region of Murcia International Airport recorded almost half a million passengers travelling through its terminal, an increase of 6% on the same period in 2022.

Of the 497,566 total flyers going through Murcia’s Corvera airport in the first seven months of this year, 450,341 were on international flights. During the month of July 2023, 117,459 passengers went through Murcia airport, a far cry from the number of people who used it in 2019 before the pandemic, when the airport opened to replace the old San Javier airport.

To put these passenger numbers in perspective, in 2007 the equivalent figure for the first seven months of the year at San Javier airport was around 1.2 million. The July 2023 total of just over 117,000 passengers is slightly more than half the 228,000 people who went through San Javier airport in July 2007. At the same time, regional authorities report very positive tourist numbers for this year with the number of people visiting tourist information centres up a whopping 40%.

While tourist numbers in Murcia are up overall, regular flyers going to and from Murcia airport complain that, even in the summer high season, there are not enough international destinations available and that the public transport links from the airport, which is located in the centre of the Region, to popular coastal areas, are deficient.

To address the poor showing by Corvera airport, plans are underway to give the flight hub a boost this year. For instance, there will be new out-of-season winter flights to Madrid and Barcelona starting from November and millions of euros’ worth of additional investment in the airport, but detractors say it will still not be enough to bring Murcia level with the likes of Alicante Airport, which is going from strength to strength and which many travellers to and from Murcia prefer to use.