Passenger traffic at airports returns to 1990 levels | Economy

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed a bitter bill into Spanish airports. In 2020, the airports of the Aena network were closed to 76 million passengers, 72.4% less than the previous year. These are traffic levels from 30 years ago, coinciding with the creation of Aena, when 73.5 million passengers were counted in 1990.

In 2020, the number of international travelers decreased by 77.8% (33.7 million) while those on domestic flights decreased by 60.6% (41.9 million). For the year as a whole, 1.1 million flights were operated, 53.4% ​​less than in 2019, and 787,848 tons of cargo were transported, 26.3% less.

Traffic was concentrated in the first three months of the year, before governments around the world, including Spain, issued lockdown measures and travel bans to a minimum since mid-March. Thus, 55.2% of passengers were concentrated in January, February and March, although even in that first quarter there were 20% fewer passengers than in the same period in 2019.

Starting in June, with the end of the restrictions, traffic has gradually returned, but measures taken by governments like the United Kingdom and Germany restricting travel abroad or declaring quarantines for citizens who wanted to travel to Spain again flooded flights in the summer until they reached a record low 81.9% in October. In December, there was a slight rebound with an increase of 39% compared to November but a decrease of 79% compared to December 2019.

At airports

Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport recorded the largest number of passengers in the network with 17.1 million, which is a decrease of 72.3% compared to 2019. Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport followed with 12, 7 million (-75.8%); Palma de Mallorca 6.1 million (-79.4%); Malaga – Costa del Sol 5.2 million (-74%); Gran Canaria, 5.1 million (-61.3%); Alicante Elche 3.7 million (-75.1%). Southern Tenerife 3.4 million (-69.6%) and Northern Tenerife 2.8 million (-52.1%).