Among the collateral damage of the early elections in Catalonia, the brake on the negotiation over El Prat stands out, whose future remains bogged down in the political struggle. But this paralysis contrasts with activity at a maximum: the airport has already had five months of passenger records, approaching its technical limit (55 million passengers per year) and on the verge of a summer season that is expected to be historic despite challenges such as the drought. The strong growth in connections with Europe largely explains this boost, to the point that Barcelona has increased its advantage over Barajas and has further strengthened its position in the hyper-competitive segment of flights with the continent.
El Prat surpasses Madrid airport in both travelers, destinations and routes – a destination can be served by more than one airline. In total, Barcelona has connected with 121 European cities in the last year, compared to 95 in Barajas, according to the latest data compiled by Aena. On the routes the difference is even greater, 214 in El Prat compared to 181 in Madrid.
In 2022 the distance was shorter and in fact the Spanish capital has suffered a slight loss of continental flights since then, while the Catalan capital has increased them. Italy (19 destinations), the United Kingdom (16), France (13), Germany (10) and Portugal (4) are the countries best connected to Barcelona. In total, El Prat transported 30.3 million passengers to European destinations in 2023, 3.8 million more than Madrid airport.
The growing demand for travel – Barcelona has established itself as the great destination for international tourists in Spain – and the concentration of events such as the Copa del América have also triggered the airlines' commitment to the European market from El Prat for this air season. summer – runs from April to October. The companies have scheduled 243 million seats at Aena's Spanish airports, 7.9% more than in the same season in 2023. However, the growth is somewhat greater in Barcelona (42.2 million, 11% more) than in Madrid (6.8%, with 48.2 million seats).
The operations deployed by Vueling and Ryanair – the main companies in El Prat, with a 42% and 18% share respectively – have been key in this. IAG's low cost will concentrate its operations in El Prat, with 7% more flights in the summer season, a considerable increase for an airline that last summer already moved an average of about 400 daily flights at the airport. The number of routes from Barcelona will not vary too much compared to 2023, with around 90. It is on the daily frequencies of key routes where the IAG company will focus its efforts. In this way, it will offer more than fifteen weekly frequencies per route on average.
Ryanair, for its part, will increase its offer of seats in El Prat to 6.2 million, when in the summer of 2023 it offered 5.4 million. It will do so with the same number of based aircraft, 14, but adding frequencies and routes. In total, it will offer flights to 71 destinations, five of them newly incorporated in the domestic market, Europe and North Africa (Alicante, Tangier, Zadar, Reggio Emilia and Corck, which becomes annual). This expansion of the Irish low cost in Barcelona occurs in a context of global capacity advancement of 7% for its current fiscal year. Last year, the airline transported 8.5 million passengers at Barcelona airport, while Vueling moved more than 20.5 million travelers at El Prat out of a total of 49.9 million. They were followed by Iberia (1.9 million), easyJet (1.47), Lufthansa (1.34) and Wizzair (1.23).
At the same time, Barcelona is also recovering intercontinental connections, the great workhorse of politicians and civil society that is the focus of the debate on the expansion of the airport. Here the balance clearly tilts in favor of Barajas due to the weight of flights with Latin America. The number of passengers and connections with Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America is very similar, with a slight advantage for Madrid. But the power of Iberia and Air Europa on routes with Latin America seems insurmountable today. Throughout the American continent, Barajas offers 49 destinations and 88 routes; El Prat, 20 destinations (half to the United States) and 25 routes.
Despite this, the Air Route Development Committee – an entity formed by Aena, the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council and the Cambra – highlights the progress of El Prat also in the intercontinental market, where it has already reached 50 global destinations. “The prospects for this summer season at Barcelona airport are very positive, especially with regard to intercontinental traffic,” underlines the president of the Chamber, Josep Santacreu.
Thus, this season some connections of great economic and cultural relevance will be activated. In addition to the recovery of the Cathay Pacific line in Hong Kong (which will start next June), Cambra highlights the new Level route to Miami (with between three and four weekly frequencies since last March 31) and the from American Airlines in Dallas (one flight daily since April 5). Air China has increased frequencies on its Barcelona-Beijing route (one flight daily), as well as Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi since the end of March. As for United Airlines, it will open a new route to San Francisco starting on May 24.
For its part, Saudia Airlines recovers the BCN-Riyadh route this summer, starting on June 3 with a weekly frequency that will increase to twice a week starting on June 10 and lasting until August 25. Also notable is the movement of Air Premia (Korean charter company) in its commitment to Barcelona. After stopping activity during the winter, it returns from the end of March until June 9 with 2 weekly flights.
“In short, a very interesting movement of new routes or intensification of services for this summer, which shows that we are without a doubt in the final stretch of the recovery of the intercontinental activity of our airport,” considers Santacreu.
The CDRA's objective for this exercise is to reach 3.71 million long-haul passengers directly. Added to the sharp rise in European flights, it will be the definitive incentive for one of Catalonia's main infrastructures.
