More than eighty cruises in Barcelona alone in the month of April, high-speed trains to overflowing, kilometer-long queues on the AP-7 on key holiday dates and airports that had never recorded such numbers of passengers in Spain. Tourism has returned with unusual strength in the first year without any restrictions after the pandemic, boosting the country’s main economic engine but also throwing up environmental and social challenges. Catalonia, for example, is going through a situation of severe drought just at the start of a record-breaking tourist season.
At this juncture, the latest activity data breaks all records: the airports in the Aena network accumulate close to 54 million passengers in the first quarter of 2023, 41.6% more than in the same period last year and 1.6% more than in the first three months of 2019.
Between January and March, 491,344 aircraft movements were registered (0.1% more than in 2019) and 251,593 tons of merchandise were transported, which is 0.5% more than in the same period of 2019.
In the month of March 2023, 20,093,589 passengers were reached, thus exceeding the data for the same month of 2019 by 0.6%. This also represents an increase of 28.9% compared to March 2022 Last month, 180,627 aircraft movements were managed, which means exceeding the data for 2019 by 1.9% and those for 2022 by 18.2%; and 96,566 tons of merchandise were managed, 2.2% more than in the same month of 2019 and 4.6% more than in March 2022, Aena has reported.
Of the total number of travelers registered in March, 20,000,442 corresponded to commercial passengers. Of these, 12,855,880 traveled on international flights, 1.6% less than in March 2019 and 30.6% more than in 2022, while 7,144,562 did so on domestic flights, 4.4% more than before the pandemic and 25.8% more than last year. All this, despite the rise in the prices of plane tickets and tourist accommodation.
By airports, Barajas registered the highest number of passengers in the third month of the year with 4,821,856, which represents a decrease of 1.7% compared to March 2019, in addition to an increase of 35.5% compared to March last anus.
They are followed by El Prat, with 3,762,656 (-5.2% compared to 2019 and 39.3% compared to 2022); Malaga-Costa del Sol, with 1,475,066 (9% and 25.1%); Palma de Mallorca, with 1,344,375 (3.3% and 22.4%); Gran Canaria, with 1,290,562, (-1% and 22.1%); Tenerife South, with 1,158,755 (4.6% and 16.4%) and Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 1,045,004 passengers, which represents an increase of 4.9% compared to the same month of 2019 and 25, 8% more than the passengers reached in March 2022.
In Catalonia, the recovery of the Reus airport stands out, with 11,142 passengers in March, thus increasing the figure for 2019 by 133% and that of 2022 by 156.1%.
Girona, on the other hand, remains well below the records for 2019. The Girona-Costa Brava airport reached 27,007 passengers in March, a figure practically identical to that of the same month in 2022 (-0.8%), but with only a 67.2% recovery relative to March 2019.
