Barcelona airport is once again close to its passenger limit after the air crisis of the pandemic and aims for 2024 of growth. For the second consecutive month, El Prat has surpassed the record records of 2019, with 3.87 million travelers last December (5.6% more than in the same month four years ago) which has led it to close 2023 with 49 .9 million, according to the latest data from Aena.
The infrastructure is thus approaching the maximum capacity of 55 million passengers that it also almost reached in 2019 – then it was just 2.32 million – and everything indicates that, if the airlines' forecasts are met, this year will again border its activity limit. In all Spanish airports, Aena exceeded 283 million passengers, the highest record achieved –see graph–.
The director of El Prat, Eva Valenzuela, announced a few weeks ago a turning point for infrastructure, with greater demand from long-haul airlines, a strategic segment that cannot grow much more, she warned, under current conditions. The negotiating table on the airport between the Generalitat and the Ministry of Transport that starts this Thursday will try to provide an answer to this problem, with the option of expanding the airport on the table and defended by the central government. The meeting will address the work calendar and the Catalan Government is pending to define its proposal.
Meanwhile, El Prat recovers positions and consolidates itself as one of the busiest airports in Europe. If you look at point-to-point flights – without connection to other destinations – Barcelona is the second airport with the highest passenger demand on the continent, only surpassed by London Heathrow and above other important connection centers such as Amsterdam, Charles de Gaulle or Frankfurt, indicates a report published this Monday by the Barcelona Air Traffic Observatory prepared by the Chamber of Commerce and Management of Aeroportuary Promotion. Specifically, during the first nine months of 2023, El Prat registered more than 16.2 million passengers (one-way) starting or ending their trip to the city of Barcelona. If total traffic is counted, including connecting passengers, Barcelona is in seventh position in Europe – Barajas is sixth.
As for airlines, it recovers almost all of the companies that operated in the winter season before the pandemic, with 84 companies led by Vueling, which maintains the largest share in El Prat with 41%. The intercontinental destinations, those that want to be promoted and on which the negotiation between the Generalitat and the Ministry will focus, reach 47, with special growth in the United States. For the summer season, an increase in connections with Asia is expected.
