The airports in the Aena network closed March with 3,200,222 passengers, 84.0% fewer than in the same month of 2019, along with 78,257 aircraft movements, 55.8% lower, and 84,846 tons of freight, a 10.2% drop. The decline in passenger traffic has continued this month due to restrictions on travel both in Spain and the rest of the world caused by COVID-19.
With respect to 2020, the comparison is 60.6% less in passenger traffic, 21.5% less in operations and 27.2% more in freight. It should be borne in mind that in mid-March 2020, the declaration of a state of emergency in Spain led to the lockdown of the entire country and consequently all non-essential travel was banned. The pandemic also resulted in travel restrictions throughout the world.
Out of the total number of travellers recorded in March, 3,178,229 were commercial passengers with 1,908,012 on domestic flights, 72.1% fewer than in March 2019 (-30.6% compared to 2020), and 1,270,217 on international flights, down by 90.3% (-76.2% compared to 2020). *
Traffic by airports
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport had the highest number of passengers in the third month of the year at 971,453, which is a -80.2% decrease compared to March 2020 (-50.8% compared to 2020). It was followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 423,774 and 89.3% less (-70.1% compared to 2020); Gran Canaria with 275,655 and 78.9% less (-53%); Palma de Mallorca with 272,209 and 79.1% less (-47.4%); Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de la Laguna with 203,298 and 56.6% less (-2.5%); Málaga-Costa del Sol with 166,876 and 87.7% less (-72.8%) and Tenerife Sur with 103,848 and 90.6% less (-78.3%). *
In terms of the number of operations, the airport that recorded the highest number of movements in March was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas with a total of 11,417 and 66.7% less than in March 2019 (-42.4% less than in 2020). It was followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 5,293 flights and 79.6% less (-61.8%); Gran Canaria with 4,607 and 61.2% less (-34.5%); Palma de Mallorca with 4,365 and 58.2% less (-25.7%); Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna with 3,573 and 43.2% less (-3.7%); Málaga-Costa del Sol with 3,011 and 69.2% less (-52.1%); Seville with 2,369 and 56.8% less (-26.8%), and Valencia with 2,032 and 66.6% less (-38.8). *
The airports mainly operating non-commercial flights with the highest number of movements in March were Madrid-Cuatro Vientos with 6,241 operations and 36.6% more than in 2019 (+253.6% compared to 2020); Sabadell with 5,155 and 22.2% less (+215.5%), and Jerez with 4,369 and 2.8% less (+93.9%).
As far as goods are concerned, 84,846 tons of freight were handled throughout the network in March, 10.2% less than in the same month in 2019 due to the fact that a very significant part of regular freight is carried in commercial passenger planes. The comparison with 2020 is 27.2% more. Here it should be noted that during this period Aena focussed its efforts on operations for medical supplies and other essential goods along with ensuring that everyone was able to get back to their home countries.
The four airports that recorded the highest freight traffic were Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas with 42,658 tons and 12.5% less than in 2019 (+19.3% compared to 2020); Zaragoza with 17,992 tons and 3.8% more (+74.8%); Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 11,234 tons and 28.9% less (+12.2%) and Vitoria with 6,853 tons and 26.6% more (+32.6%).*
*Note: all figures reported as (...) show the comparison with 2020