Madrid Airport

Spain’s Airports Exceed pre-pandemic Levels in 2023

Aena, the world’s leading airport operator by the number of passengers, manages 46 airports and two heliports in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, and Canarias airports. 

The airports in the Aena network closed the month of February 2023 with 16,622,180 passengers, thus exceeding the data for the same month of 2019, the pre-pandemic year, by 2.2%. This also represents an increase of 39.6% compared to February 2022. 

In February 2023, 154,217 aircraft movements were managed, which means matching the data of 2019 and exceeding those of 2022 by 18.9%. ; and 80,480 tons of merchandise were moved, 2.5% more compared to the same month of 2019 and 2.2% more compared to February 2022.

Of the total number of travelers registered in February, 16,542,112 corresponded to commercial passengers. Of these, 10,539,161 traveled on international flights, 0.2% less than in February 2019 and 44% more than in 2022, while 6,002,951 did so on domestic flights, 6.4% more than before of the pandemic and 32.5% more than last year.

Between January and February 2023, 33,552,280 travelers have passed through the airports in the Aena network (2.2% more than in 2019), 310,717 aircraft movements were registered (1% less than in 2019) and transported 155,027 tons of merchandise, which is 0.5% less than in the same period of 2019. 

Passengers

The Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport registered the highest number of passengers in the second month of the year with 4,174,111, which represents an increase of 0.6% over February 2019, in addition to an increase of 45.1% compared to February of last year. 

They are followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 3,132,658 (-4.1% compared to 2019 and +58% compared to 2022); Gran Canaria, with 1,162,836, (+3.3% and +30.7%); Malaga-Costa del Sol, with 1,123,164 (+6.7% and +28.9%); Tenerife South, with 1,055,210 (+10.7% and +28%); Palma de Mallorca, with 905,954 (+1.1% and +26.9%), Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 790,766 (+1% and +35.5%) and César Manrique-Lanzarote, with 622,198 passengers, which represents an increase of 12.7% compared to the same month of 2019 and 26% more than the passengers reached in February 2022.

Operations

Regarding the number of operations, the airport that registered the most movements in February was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with a total of 27,886 (-7.6% compared to 2019 and +24.5% compared to 2022), followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 20,764 flights (-8.5% and +36.2%); Gran Canaria, with 10,295 (-0.6% and +18.7%); Malaga-Costa del Sol, with 8,570 (+5.3% and +9.7%); Palma de Mallorca, 8,362 (+5.4% and +19.4%) and Tenerife Sur, with 7,055 and 18.1% more than in the same month of 2019 and an increase of 18.2% compared to February of 2022.

Load

Regarding freight traffic, the airport that registered the highest cargo traffic was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with 47,733 tons, 15.9% more than in the same month of 2019 and an increase of 8.4% over 2022. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airports follow, with 11,999 tons (-2.9% compared to 2019 and +5.1% compared to 2022); Zaragoza, which registered 9,200 tons (-34.2% and -18.1%) and Vitoria, with 5,713 tons and 16.2% more than in the same month of 2019 and 1.4% less than in February 2022. 

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