Barcelona airport registers six consecutive months of historic passenger records

Barcelona airport surpassed 4.6 million passengers in April, an increase of 9.5% compared to the same month last year, according to figures released by Spain's airport management company Aena on Monday. 

With these figures, the infrastructure breaks, for the six month in a row, its record of travelers, after recording 4.2 million passengers in March.

Of the total, 4,600,973 passengers flew on commercial flights – 3,411,915 on international flights, up 11.8% on 2023, and 1,181,226 passengers on domestic flights, up 3.3%. 

Compared to March 2019, pre-pandemic, passenger numbers rose 1.7%. 

Madrid was the busiest airport in Spain, with 5,388,400 passengers, 10.6% more than in March 2023 and 6.7% more than in 2019. 

There were 29,812 take-offs and landings at Barcelona airport during March, up 10.8% on 2023 and up 0.2% on 2019. 

Passenger numbers for the year so far, including January and April 2024, stand at 16,041,099. This represents a 13.2% increase on 2023 and a 6.7% increase on 2019. 

The airport in Barcelona carried 14,864 tonnes of freight, an increase of 20.6% compared to the same month last year. So far, in 2024, 58,557 tonnes of cargo have been transported using the Catalan capital infrastructure, 20.8% more than last year.

Catalonia's other airports

Catalonia has three more airports operated by AENA: Reus –in the south–, Girona –in the north–, and Sabadell –just outside Barcelona–.

Girona-Costa Brava was the second busiest airport in the territory in April 2024, with 170,688 passengers, 88.0% more than in the same month last year but 2.7% less than in 2019.

Meanwhile, there were 2,049 operations, 39% more than in April 2023 and 42.0% more than in 2019.

In the south, Reus saw 101,970 passengers, 31.5% more than the same time one year ago, and 87.6% more than in 2019. There were 2,227 take-offs and landings, 34.2% more than in 2023 and 80.6% more than in 2019.

Sabadell, which is mainly a training facility and a place for private jets to land, saw 4,502 operations during April 2024, but only 455 passengers used the infrastructure, 23.4% less than one year ago and 87.2% more than before the pandemic.