Yearly traffic up at Spain’s airports but still 43% down on pre-COVID levels

A total of 120 million passengers passed through Aena’s Spanish airports in 2021 – 57% up on 2020 but still a significant 43.6% down on the pre-COVID levels reached in 2019.

Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport handled 24.1 million of the total in 2021 – a drop of 60.9% compared to 2019 and an increase of 41% compared to 2020.

Spain’s next busiest airports in 2021 were Barcelona (18.8 million), Palma de Mallorca (14.4 million), Malaga-Costa del Sol (8.8 million), Gran Canaria (6.9 million), Alicante-Elche (5.8 million), Ibiza, (4.8 million), Tenerife Sur (4.6 million) and Valencia (4.0 million), representing annual increases of 48.2%, 137%, 72% 34%, 56%, 129%, +35% and 64%.

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Aena reports that aircraft movements across its airports generally declined last year, with Spain’s three busiest gateways Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca handling 217,537 (-49%), 163,679 (-52.5%) and 141,189 (-35%) respectively.

Elsewhere, the airports that saw mainly non-commercial activity and accounted for the largest number of movements in 2021 were Madrid-Cuatro Vientos, with 60,759 operations (+17%); Sabadell, with 51,665 (+2%); and Jerez, with 41,260 (-24.3%).

In 2021, 998,471 tonnes of cargo were transported throughout the Aena network, 6.6% less than in 2019, since a significant amount of the usual cargo was carried in the bellyholds of commercial passenger aircraft.

The four airports that registered the highest cargo traffic last year were Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with a total of 523,396 tonnes (-6.5%); Zaragoza, 194,352 tonnes (+6.4%); Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, 136,107 tonnes (-23%); and Vitoria, with 72,522 tonnes (+12.5%).

Aena notes that in the final month of 2021 its airport network welcomed 12.7 million passengers, a whopping 233% more than in December 2020, but 30.3% less than in the same month of 2019.