The airports of the Aena network in Spain have closed the first month of 2024 with a record number of passengers and cargo in January, thus maintaining the upward trend of most of 2023.
In January 2024, Aena received 18,667,212 passengers, 10.3% more than in the same month of 2023; it handled 165,909 aircraft movements, 6% more than in 2023; and 91,752 tonnes of cargo were moved, 23.1% more than last year.
Of the total number of passengers in January, 18,601,093 were commercial passengers: 12,144,917 travelled on international flights, 13.2% more than in January 2023, while 6,456,176 travelled on domestic flights, 5.3% more than last year.
Passengers
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport recorded the highest number of passengers in the first month of the year at 4,793,581, a growth of 8.1% compared to January last year.
It is followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, with 3,507,678 passengers (+13.9% compared to 2023); Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 1,344,443 (+20%); Gran Canaria, with 1.291,168 (+7.2%); Tenerife Sur, with 1,205,932 (+10.3%); Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 958,088 (+20.5%); and Palma de Mallorca Airport, with 889,815 passengers (+3.6%).
During the month of January, passenger records were broken at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, Málaga-Costa del Sol, Seville, Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna, Tenerife Sur, Valencia, Asturias, Bilbao, Ibiza, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, César Manrique-Lanzarote, La Gomera, Ceuta and Melilla airports.
Operations
In terms of operations, the airport with the highest number of movements in January was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, with a total of 31,617 (+4.2% compared to 2023), followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 23.614 flights (+12.8%); Gran Canaria, with 11,446 (+3.6%); Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 10,330 (+14.5%); Palma de Mallorca, with 8,650 (+3.5%); Tenerife Sur, with 8,037 (+7.1%); and Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, with 6,468 takeoffs and landings (+18.8%).
Cargo
With regard to freight traffic, the airport with the highest volume of cargo was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, with 55,051 tonnes, 24.5% more than in the same month of 2023. It is followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, at 13,644 tonnes (+28.4%); Zaragoza, which recorded a total of 10,791 tonnes (+33.3%); and Vitoria Airport, with 5,964 tonnes (+5.3%).
Additionally, last January witnessed record levels of freight traffic within a single month at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and at Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport.