Air passenger traffic has already exceeded pre-pandemic levels. All airports have closed a summer with an increase in occupied seats of 1.2% compared to 2019 figures, which represents 163 million operations, and are preparing for a record winter season as well. In the coming months, 12.8% more tickets sold in the winter of 2018/2019 are scheduled to operate, the last in which the planes were able to fly normally, according to data offered today by the Association of Airlines, ALA. . There will be 127 million passengers between October and March, a figure never before seen at national airports.
All regions of Spain already exceed pre-pandemic seat supply levels. The one leading the growth, facing the winter, is the Canary Islands, where 29.8 million passengers are expected or, in other words, 24.1% more than in the winter of 2018/2019. It is followed by Andalusia, with 20.4% more seats offered, and Alicante.
Madrid and Barcelona, for their part, will manage to barely recover their maximum passenger levels, with 31 million seats offered in the capital and 23.8 million for El Prat.
All source markets increased passenger numbers this summer, except for two. These are the United Kingdom, with a decrease of 2.6% compared to 2019, and Germany, where the seats offered have fallen by 11.5%.
“The data for the winter season invite optimism and anticipate a record year,” said the president of ALA, Javier Gándara, in an informative meeting held at the CEOE headquarters.
The airline sector, however, speaks of “moderate optimism” due to the uncertainties in the geopolitical and economic sphere that darken the horizon. In this sense, the evolution of the conflict between Israel and Hamas could put upward pressure on the already highly stressed oil price and, with it, the cost of fuel.
“At the moment air traffic is performing very well and the figures are showing passengers' desire to travel. We face the final stretch of the year with the expectation that 2023 will be the year of consolidation of the recovery, with figures even above 2019, which was a record year for passengers. If we maintain this positive pace we will surpass those records,” stated the highest representative of ALA.
The challenges set by airlines for the coming months are several. First, cushion the impact of strikes in France, where airspace has been disrupted for 60 days this year. These stoppages affect all overflights and, therefore, cause diversion of routes to or from Spain.
Secondly, the airlines insist that the future Government position itself against a tax on kerosene at the European level. According to a report by the consulting firm Deloitte, a tax on the fuel that is most used in aviation at this time would especially harm southern European countries. In Spain alone, according to this study, it would cause the loss of more than 4.5 million tourists in 2030.
Finally, the aviation sector employers have asked the next Executive to strongly support SAF, the ecological fuel of the future, and to turn Spain into a world power. “There are possibilities,” Gándara noted.
