Aena S M E S A : network airports close March with a 78.1% recovery of 2019 traffic and record over 15.5 million passengers

12 de abril de 2022

The number of passengers increases by 387.1% compared to March 2021

152,779 aircraft movements were recorded and 92,309 tonnes of cargo were transported throughout the network

Aena network airports closed March 2022 with 15,587,273 passengers, a recovery of 78.1% compared to the data for the same month in 2019 (the year before the pandemic) and an increase of 387.1% with respect to March 2021, a month that was affected in its entirety by COVID-19.

In March 2022, 152,779 aircraft were managed, which is equivalent to a recovery of 86.2% over 2019 and an increase of 95.2% compared to 2021; while 92,309 tonnes of goods were transported, representing a decrease of 2.3% compared to the same month of 2019 and an increase of 8.8% compared to March 2021.

Of the total number of travellers recorded in March, 15,521,185 were commercial passengers, of which 9,843,389 travelled on international flights (24.6% less than in March 2019 and 674.9% more than in 2021) and 5,677,796 on domestic flights (17% less than before the pandemic, but 197.6% more than last year).

Passengers

The Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport recorded the highest number of passengers in the third month of the year with 3,557,755, representing a decrease of 27.5% compared to March 2019 and an increase of 266.2% as against March of last year.

This is followed by Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport with 2,701,372 (31.9% less compared 2019 and 537.5% more over 2021), Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport, with 1,178,907 (-12.9% and +606.5%), Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 1,098,167 (-15.6% and +303.4%), Gran Canaria Airport, with 1,057,098, (-18.9% and +283.5%), Tenerife Sur Airport, with 995,773 (-10.1% and +858.9%), Alicante-Elche Airport, with 830,474 passengers (-16.7% and +1,240.8%), César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport, with 607,643 passengers (-9.2% and +615%), Sevilla Airport, with 542,690 passengers (-15.4% and + 940.6%), and Valencia Airport, with 540,916 passengers, which is 19.1% less than the same month in 2019 and 658% more than the passengers reached in March 2021.

Operations

In terms of the number of operations, the airport with the highest number of movements in March was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, with a total of 26,715 (-22% in 2019 and +134% in 2021), followed by Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport, with 19,934 flights (-23.2% and +276.6%), Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 10,670 (+2.2% and +144.4%), Gran Canaria Airport, with 10,268 (-13.5% and +122.9%), Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport, with 9,677 (-1.1% and +221.4%), Tenerife Sur Airport, with 6,746 (-0.9% and +408%), Alicante-Elche Airport, with 5,892 (-12.9% and +532.9%), Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, with 5,648 (-10.2% and +58.1%) and César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport, with 5,336, which is 1.8% less than the same month in 2019 and an increase of 233.9% compared to March 2021.

Cargo

With respect to the transport of goods, the airport that recorded the highest cargo traffic during the month of March was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport with 51,970 tonnes, which is 6.5% more than in the same month of 2019 and 21.8% higher than in the third month of 2021. This is followed by Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport with 13,542 tonnes (-14.3% compared to 2019 and +20.5% compared to 2021), Zaragoza Airport, which recorded 13,349 tonnes (-23% and -25.8%) and Vitoria Airport, with 6,736 tonnes, which is 24.4% more than in the same month of 2019 and 1.7% less than in March 2021.

Cumulative data

The accumulated figures up to March 2022 reflect a recovery of 71.8% of passenger traffic compared to the same quarter of 2019 and an increase of 359.7% with respect to the same period of 2021. During the first three months of 2022, 37,898,456 passengers have passed through the Aena network airports, 414,341 aircraft movements were recorded (15.6% less than in 2019 and 107.9% more than in 2021) and 247,804 tonnes of goods were transported, which is 1% less than in the same period of 2019 and 14.4% more than in the first quarter of 2021.

*Comparisons against 2019 are included (the last full fiscal year that was not affected by COVID-19) and percentages are added with respect to the same month last year, in order to draw a comparison against a fiscal year such as 2021, which was affected by the pandemic in its entirety.