Aena airport network closed out 2021 with increased passenger traffic

The airports in the Aena network closed out 2021 with 119,959,671 passengers, which is 56.4 per cent less passenger traffic than for the same period in 2019, or equivalent to 43.6 per cent of the pre-pandemic volume.

With respect to 2020, a year that was already affected by the COVID-19 crisis, 2021 closed out with an increase in passenger traffic of 57.7 per cent. Throughout the year, the number of aircraft movements was 1,518,713, 35.7 per cent lower than in 2019, and 998,471 tonnes of cargo were transported, 6.6 per cent less than in 2019.

Of the total number of passengers registered in 2021, 119,396,351 travelled commercially, 52,043,865 on domestic flights, 39.2 per cent less than in 2019, and 67,352,486 did so on international routes, 64.3 per cent less.

Traffic by airport

The Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) reported the largest number of passengers in the network in 2021, with 24,135,220, a drop of 60.9 per cent compared to 2019 and an increase of 41 per cent compared to 2020.

It was followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN), with 18,874,896 (a 64.2 per cent decrease from 2019 and a 48.2 per cent increase over 2020), Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI), with 14,496,857 (-51.2 per cent from 2019 and +137.3 per cent over 2020), Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP), with 8,874,765 (-55.3 per cent and +72 per cent), Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), with 6,900,493 (-48 per cent and +34.4 per cent), Alicante-Elche Airport (ALC), with 5,841,181 (-61.2 per cent and +56.2 per cent), Ibiza Airport (IBZ), with 4,851,819 (-40.5 per cent and +129.9 per cent), Tenerife South Airport (TFS), with 4,605,827 (-58.8 per cent and +35.8 per cent), and Valencia Airport (VLC), with 4,077,836 (-52.2 per cent and +63.9 per cent).

As for the number of operations, the airport with the most aircraft movements in 2021 was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with a total of 217,537 (-49 per cent), followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 163,679 (-52.5 per cent), Palma de Mallorca, with 141,189 (-35 per cent), Malaga-Costa del Sol, with 92,227 (-36.4 per cent), Gran Canaria, with 83,981 (-33.6 per cent), Ibiza, with 61,612 (-18.3 per cent), Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna, with 54,580 (-27.6 per cent), and Alicante Elche, with 51,505 (-49.2 per cent).

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 per cent), Sabadell, with 51,665 ( two per cent), and Jerez, with 41,260 (-24.3 per cent).

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

The four airports that registered the highest cargo traffic in 2021 were Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with a total of 523,396 tonnes (-6.5 per cent), Zaragoza, 194,352 tonnes (6.4 per cent), Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, 136,107 tonnes (-23 per cent), and Vitoria, with 72,522 tonnes (12.5 per cent).

December 2021

As for December, Aena’s airport network handled a total of 12,721,263 passengers, 30.3 per cent less than in the same month of 2019, equivalent to recovering 69.7 per cent of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic figures, and 233.2 per cent more than in 2020. Of these passengers, 12,664,914 were on commercial flights, of whom 5,278,732 travelled domestically, 18.2 per cent less than in 2019, and 7,386,182, 37 per cent less, did so internationally.

The number of aircraft operations at Aena airports in December 2021 was 141,931, 12.9 per cent less than in the same month of 2019.

A total of 95,333 tonnes of goods were transported, 0.3 per cent less than in December 2019.