Airlines defy inflation, rising fuel prices and global uncertainty and redouble their commitment to Spanish airports. The offer of seats for the winter travel season, which starts on October 30 and runs until March 25, 2023, exceeds pre-pandemic figures. In total, the companies have scheduled 116.8 million seats and almost 677,000 commercial operations at Aena airports, 5.3% more than those operated in the same 2019-2020 season, before the outbreak of the pandemic, a Once the data has been adjusted for weeks, as reported by the listed company on Monday.
As usual, Barajas and El Prat lead the airlines offer. In the case of the Catalan airport, it will have 21.6 million seats to fly, almost 3% more than the seats that ended up being put up for sale three years ago, when the season ended abruptly due to covid . It so happens that the start of the winter campaign in El Prat coincides with the beginning of the strike called by the cabin crew of Vueling, its main company. In any case, both the minimum services and the real follow-up of the strike backed by the Stavla union are yet to be specified.
The recovery figures for Barcelona do not take into account the adjustment for the impact that covid-19 had in the last two weeks of March 2020, highly affected by the imposition of mobility restrictions. However, it does take into account the regeneration works on runway 06L-24R, which during the month of March require a reduction in slots, which results in less capacity for the airport. In the 2019-2020 winter season, the airlines scheduled 23.3 million seats, although the weeks do not coincide and the companies ended up withdrawing part of the initial offer. Aena makes the comparison with the seats that were finally put up for sale.
By area, the weight of Europe stands out, with practically 12.5 million seats, and Spain, with 6.5 million, as well as the growth of Africa, which increased the number of seats by 26% compared to three years ago, reaching with about 800,000 seats. By country, the fastest growing are Morocco (45%), Portugal (26%), the Netherlands (20%) and Italy (10%). On the other hand, in terms of operations for this new season, 112,400 movements have been planned.
The Girona-Costa Brava airport, the number of seats for this new season is 87,242. By country, Poland (10%) and the United Kingdom (2%) are the two destinations that increased the number of seats. As for the Reus Airport, its commercial operations will end as of November 7.
As for Barajas, it will offer more than 29.7 million, 6% more than the same weeks of the 2019-2020 season. The airports that incorporate a greater number of new routes for the winter season are those of the Canarias group, with 73.
By geographical area, all markets except North America and Asia-Pacific grew, which are still 11% and 18% below 2019 levels, respectively. Among the international routes, those that offer more seats are those that connect Spain with Africa (27%), followed by Europe and Latin America, both with 10% more. Domestic flights increase 16%, reaching almost 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%). Finally, 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%).
