Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport.
The schedule exceeds what was operated in the 2019-2020 pre-COVID season, once adjustments have been made for the last two weeks of March 2020, already impacted by the lockdown. The seat offer reaches 116.8 million seats and commercial operations total nearly 677,000 departures and arrivals.
Airlines have scheduled 116.8 million seats and almost 677,000 commercial operations at the airports in the Aena network for the winter season, which starts on 30 October and will last until 25 March 2023. This represents 5.3% more seats than those operated in the same season in 2019–2020, before the outbreak of the pandemic, once the data have been adjusted on a weekly basis, as is usually done for comparability, and taking into account that the last two weeks of March 2020 were heavily affected by the introduction of mobility restrictions. Without those adjustments, the increase would be 11.8%.
The airports from which most seats are offered are Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, with more than 29.7 million, and Barcelona-El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport, with 21.6 million. Both facilities are already ahead of the 2019 winter season figures by 6% and 3% respectively. They are followed by Gran Canaria Airport, with 8.24 million seats (+24%); Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport, with 7.47 million (+17%); Tenerife Sur Airport, with 6.98 million (+36%); Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 6.51 million (+11%); Alicante-Elche Airport, with 5.46 million (+9%); César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport, with 4.34 million (+39%); Valencia Airport, with 3.88 million (+13%) and Sevilla Airport, with 3.55 million scheduled seats (+8%).
The airports incorporating the largest number of new routes for the winter season are those in the Canary Islands Group, with 73. Especially significant are the figures of César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport, with 30 more routes, and Gran Canaria Airport, with 29.
By geographic area, all markets have grown except for North America and Asia-Pacific, which are still 11% and 18% below 2019 levels, respectively. Among the international routes, the ones offering the most seats are those between Spain and Africa (+27%), followed by Europe and Latin America, both with a 10% increase. Domestic flights increase by 16%, reaching nearly 44 million seats.
After Spain, the countries where airlines have offered a greater number of seats for the winter season are the United Kingdom, with 14.6 million (+10%); Germany, with 9.45 million (+3%); Italy, with 6.3 million (+7%); France, with 5.9 million (+14%), and the Netherlands, with 3.8 million seats offered (+26%).
The destinations with the highest percentage growth are Poland (+58% of seats offered compared to 2019); Morocco (+45%); Romania (+34%); Ireland (+31%) and Mexico (+30%). In any case, the scheduling of seats and movements is always subject to change by airlines.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
