Among the collateral damage of the electoral progress in Catalonia, the brake on the negotiation on El Prat stands out, whose future remains bogged down in the political struggle. But this paralysis contrasts with peak activity: the airport has already chained together five months of passenger records and is approaching its technical limit (55 million passengers a year) and at the gates of a summer season that is expected to be historic despite challenges such as drought. The strong growth in connections with Europe largely explains this boost, to the point that Barcelona has increased its advantage with Barajas and further strengthened its position in the hyper-competitive segment of flights with the continent.
El Prat surpasses both in terms of passengers and destinations and routes – a destination can be served by more than one airline – Madrid airport. In total, Barcelona has connected with 121 European cities in the last year, compared to 95 in Barajas, according to the latest data from Aena. In the routes the difference is even greater, 214 in El Prat compared to 181 in Madrid.
In 2022, the distance was shorter, and in fact the Spanish capital has suffered a slight loss of continental flights since then, while the Catalan one has increased them. Italy (19 destinations), the United Kingdom (16), France (13), Germany (10) and Portugal (4) are the countries best connected to Barcelona. In total, El Prat transported 30.3 million passengers with European destinations in 2023, 3.8 million more than Madrid airport.
The growing demand for travel – Barcelona has established itself as the major destination for international tourists in Spain – and the concentration of events such as the America’s Cup have increased the airlines’ bet on the European market since del Prat for this summer air season – from April to October. The companies have scheduled 243 million seats at Aena’s Spanish airports, 7.9% more than the same season in 2023. However, growth is slightly higher in Barcelona (42.2 million, 11% more) than in Madrid (6.8%, with 48.2 million seats).
The operation carried out by Vueling and Ryanair – the main companies in El Prat, with a 42% and 18% share respectively – has been key in this. The low cost of IAG will concentrate its operation in El Prat, with 7% more flights in the summer season, a considerable increase for an airline that in the summer already moved an average of around 400 daily flights to the airport The number of routes from Barcelona will not vary much compared to 2023, with around 90. It is on the daily frequencies of key routes that the IAG company will focus its efforts on. In this way, it will offer more than fifteen weekly frequencies per route on average.
Ryanair, for its part, will increase its offer of seats in El Prat to 6.2 million, when in the summer of 2023 it offered 5.4 million. It will do so with the same number of based planes, 14, but increasing frequencies and routes. In total, it will offer flights to 71 destinations, five of which are new additions to the domestic market, Europe and North Africa (Alicante, Tangier, Zadar, Reggio Emilia and Cork, which will become annual). This expansion of the Irish low-cost carrier in Barcelona takes place in a context of a 7% global capacity increase for its current fiscal year. Last year the airline transported 8.5 million passengers to Barcelona airport, while Vueling transported more than 20.5 million travelers to El Prat out of a total of 49.9 million. It was followed by Iberia (1.9 million), easyJet (1.47), Lufthansa (1.34) and Wizzair (1.23).
At the same time, Barcelona is also recovering intercontinental connections, the great battle horse of politicians and civil society that focuses the debate on the expansion of the airport. Here the balance falls clearly in favor of Barajas due to the weight of the flights with Latin America. The number of passengers and connections to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America are very similar, with Madrid slightly ahead. But the power of Iberia and Air Europa on routes with Latin America seems insurmountable today. Throughout the American continent, Barajas offers 49 destinations and 88 routes; El Prat, 20 destinations (half in the United States) and 25 routes.
Despite this, from the Air Routes Development Committee – made up of Aena, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce – the Prat’s progress is also highlighted in the intercontinental market, in which it already has reached 50 global destinations. “The prospects for this summer season at Barcelona airport are very positive, especially with regard to intercontinental traffic”, emphasizes the president of the Chamber, Josep Santacreu.
So, this season some connections of great economic and cultural relevance will be activated. In the recovery of the Cathay Pacific line to Hong Kong (which will start in June), the Chamber highlights the new Level route to Miami (with between three and four weekly frequencies from March 31) and that of American Airlines to Dallas (one daily flight from April 5). Air China has increased frequencies on its Barcelona-Beijing route (one daily flight), and so has Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi since the end of March. As for United Airlines, it will open a new route to San Francisco starting on May 24.
For its part, Saudia Airlines is resuming the Barcelona-Riyadh route in the summer, from June 3 with a weekly frequency that will increase to two weekly flights from June 10 and will last until August 25. The move by Air Premia (a Korean charter company) of its commitment to Barcelona also stands out. After stopping the activity during the winter, it returns from the end of March until the 9th of June with two weekly flights.
“In short, a very interesting movement of new routes or intensification of services for the summer, which shows that we are without a doubt in the final stretch of the recovery of the intercontinental activity of our airport”, considers Santacreu.
The CDRA’s objective for this exercise is to catch the 3.71 million long-haul passengers directly. Added to the strong increase in European flights, it will be the definitive stimulus for one of Catalonia’s main infrastructures.
