October passenger numbers up in Catalonia’s airports

Last month, Barcelona, Girona and Reus airports registered rise in travelers of 3.9%, 21.8% and 28.2% respectively

Passengers at Barcelona El Prat airport (by ACN)
Passengers at Barcelona El Prat airport (by ACN) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

November 14, 2017 07:33 PM

It has been a good year so far for Catalonia’s airports. More than 4.1 million passengers used Barcelona Airport in October, some 3.9% more than in the same period last year. According to state airport operator AENA, Barcelona Airport has so far this year dealt with more than 40 million passengers, some 7.3% more than in the first 10 months of 2016.

Nor was Barcelona the only Catalan airport that had a good October. The Girona Costa Brava airport dealt with 196,307 passengers last month, 21.8% more than in October last year. So far in 2017, Girona Airport has seen 1,858,068 passengers, a rise of 18%, and close to the target of two million passengers with only two (albeit lighter) months to go.

Meanwhile, Reus Airport, in the south of the country, passed the million passenger mark in October, with some 1,005,902 travelers registered, a 25.7% increase over the first 10 months of 2016. According to AENA’s figures, Reus Airport handled some 95,665 passengers in October, 28.2% more than in the same period last year.

As for the number of operations carried out in the airports, Barcelona registered 29,235 take-offs and landings, 7% up on the same month in 2016, with 276,966 registered since the start of the year (up 4.8%). In Girona Airport, the number of operations in October grew by 14% to 1,830, with a total of 17,790 since the start of 2017 (up 4.5%). In Reus Airport, the 1,555 operations in October represented a 12.6% rise, with some 14,496 take-offs and landings since January 1, another rise of 12.6% compared with the first 10 months of 2016.

New Lithuanian route in March

Meanwhile, the low cost airline Ryanair, which operates in all three of Catalonia’s airports and has a particularly strong presence in Girona, has announced a new route from the Costa Brava airport. From March, Ryanair will begin to run flights to Lithuania’s second-largest city, Kaunas. The new route, which will operate throughout the summer of 2018, will run twice a week until the end of October. To celebrate the opening of the new route, Ryanair is selling tickets to Kaunas for 29.99 euros in March and April.