The airports in the Aena network closed 2020 with 76,064,322 passengers, 72.4% fewer than the previous year, along with 1,101,185 aircraft movements, 53.4% lower, and 787,848 tons of freight transported, 26.3% lower than in 2019.
Out of the total number of passengers registered, 75,641,258 were commercial passengers with 33,754,971 on domestic flights, 60.6% less than in 2019, and 41,886,287 on international routes, down by 77.8%.
The decline in passenger traffic was due to the travel restrictions in both Spain and the rest of the world caused by the spread of COVID-19 since last March and which are still in place.
Traffic by airports
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport had the highest number of passengers in the network at 17,112,389 travellers, which is a 72.3% decrease over 2019. It was followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, with 12,739,259 (-75.8%); Palma de Mallorca, with 6,108,486 (-79.4%); Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 5,161,636 (-74%); Gran Canaria, with 5,134,372 (-61.3%); Alicante-Elche, with 3,739,499 (-75.1%); Tenerife Sur, with 3,392,329
(-69.6%); and Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna, with 2,795,952 (-52.1%).
In terms of the number of operations, the airport that recorded the highest number of movements in 2020 was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas with a total of 165,740 (-61.1%), followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 122,638 (-64.4%); Palma de Mallorca with 76,851 (-64.6%); Gran Canaria with 67,282 (-46.8%); Málaga-Costa del Sol with 59,668 (-58.8%); Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de la Laguna with 46,100 (-38.8%); Alicante-Elche with 37,153 (-63.4%); and Valencia with 35,900 (-53.8%).
The airports mainly operating non-commercial flights with the highest number of movements in 2020 were Madrid-Cuatro Vientos with 44,468 operations (-14.4%), Sabadell with 40,650 (-19.8%) and Jerez with 37,024 (-32.1%).
In terms of freight, 787,848 tonnes were transported in the entire Aena network in 2020, 26.3% less than in 2019 because much of the usual freight was shifted to commercial passenger airplanes.
The four airports with the highest freight traffic last year were Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas with a total of 401,133 tons (-28.4%); Zaragoza with 143,600 tons (-21.4%); Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 114,263 tons (-35.4%); and Vitoria with 64,334 tons (-0.2%).
December 2020
With regard to the month of December, the Aena airport network registered a total of 3,818,162 passengers, 79.1% lower than in December 2019. Of this total, 3,790,610 were commercial domestic passengers, 2,180,287 of whom were on domestic flights, 66.2% fewer than in December 2019, while 1,610,323 were flying on international routes, an 86.3% decline.
There were 75,114 aircraft operations in the airports in the Aena network in December 2020, 53.9% lower than in December 2019. The total amount of freight transported was 74,425 tonnes, 22.2% less than in December 2019.