Airlines have scheduled 115.3 million seats in Aena’s network airports for the winter season, which begins on 28 October and runs until 30 March 2019. This is a 10.8% rise compared to the same period in the previous year.
The number of scheduled movements is also up by 9% to stand at just over 691,000 commercial movements.
Airlines have scheduled 2,446 routes for the new winter season, which is 131 more than in the winter season in 2017.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport maintains growth in its scheduled seats as they go up to more than 29.5 million, a 9.6% increase. Meanwhile at Barcelona-El Prat Airport airlines are planning to offer over 23.1 million seats, 10.7% more than in the winter season in 2017.
Gran Canaria Airport, where the number of seats available is 7.9 million, (+5.3%); Palma de Mallorca with 7.3 million, (+26.2%); Málaga-Costa del Sol with 7.1 million scheduled seats, (+15.1%); and Tenerife Sur follow these two airports, with 6.1 million, (+10.1%).
In terms of the percentage increases in the number of seats offered by airlines in the network’s airports, the list is led by Palma de Mallorca (26.2%, with roughly 7,325,000 seats), Seville (22.2%, with more than 3,364,000 seats), Seve Ballesteros-Santander (20.2%, with more than 535,300 seats), Jerez (17.6%, with close to 400,200 seats) and Valencia (16%, with nearly 3,657,000 seats).
By areas
Turning to geographical areas, there is a big increase in the offering for the Middle East, which is up by 32.8% with over 2,099,000 seats scheduled for the 2018-2019 winter season. The commitment to the Asian market continues with a 24.2% increase in seats available (close to 661,000) and there is a 17.9% rise for Africa (2.2 million seats). As for other geographical areas, airlines have scheduled over 1.7 million seats with North America, (+15.5%); 63.3 million with Europe, (+11.7%), and 4.3 million with Latin America, an 8.8% increase.
The offer of seats in the domestic market is up by 8.2% with about 41 million seats on flights between Spanish airports.
By countries
After Spain, the countries where airlines are making available the largest number of seats for the winter season 2018-2019 are the United Kingdom, with 14.6 million (+8.4%); Germany, with about 12 million (+17.8%); Italy, with 6.6 million (+13.3%), and France, with 5.4 million (5.5%).
The scheduling for seats and movements in the winter season 2018-2019 is subject to change by airlines.
New routes
In the 2018 winter season, 286 new routes are expected to begin operating at Aena’s network airports compared to the winter season in 2017. The Canary Island airports as a whole stand out here with 108 new routes.
By airports there is Gran Canaria (32 new routes), followed by Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas (29), Palma de Mallorca (26), Tenerife Sur (24), Barcelona-El Prat (23), Lanzarote (23) and Seville (22).
The new destinations announced by airlines include new long-haul routes with Latin America, North America, the Middle East and Asia. Examples of these connections are Panama operated by Air Europa from Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas and Abu Dhabi operated by Etihad and San Francisco by Level from Barcelona-El Prat.
A number of the long-haul routes, which opened this summer, are also continuing in the upcoming winter season. They include Los Angeles and New York operated by Norwegian and Shenzhen by Hainan Airlines from AS Madrid-Barajas along with Seoul ICN operated by Asiana Airlines, Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific and Boston by Level from Barcelona-El Prat.
In addition, the route between AS Madrid-Barajas and Los Angeles, which is operated by Iberia in the summer, is to be extended to the winter season for the first time.
