Although for many others the inauguration ceremony for Malaga Airport’s new Terminal 3 will stick in their minds for other reasons, unfortunately for Spain’s King Juan Carlos, it is more likely to be remembered as the day when the world’s press captured him stumbling as he made his way on stage to make his address.

Accompanied by Queen Sofia, the country’s monarch officially opened the new terminal at a ceremony on Monday 15th March which was attended by around 500 people including some of the country’s top officials.  In his speech, King Juan Carlos congratulated all those who had helped to bring the project to a successful conclusion and stated that he believes that the new terminal will have a great impact in helping to make Malaga, and indeed the region of Andalucia, more dynamic, as well as stimulating tourism in the area.

Described by the king as being the oldest airport in Spain to still remain on its original site, the architecture of the new terminal is certainly not something from a bygone era.  In fact, King Juan Carlos, in his congratulation of the architect and builders, referred to the architecture as being ‘agile, luminous and transparent’.

Costing more than 300 million euros to design and construct, the new Terminal 3 will double Malaga Airport’s capacity, enabling it to handle 9,000 passengers per hour through its 180 check-in desks and 48 boarding gates.  With the decision to take flights mainly from the Schengen countries into the new terminal, however, passengers travelling on low-cost flights from the UK will still mainly arrive at the old Terminal 2.

The first passengers to leave Malaga Airport through the new terminal were scheduled to fly to Barcelona on the morning of Tuesday 16th March at 6.50am.

If you are looking to holiday in Spain this summer then why not check out our holiday rentals in Spain or the luxury DDG World spa retreat.