Barcelona airport reaches all-time high number of passengers in 2024

More than 55 million passengers used Barcelona Airport in 2024, an all-time record high.

A total of 4,072,436 passengers passed through the airport in December, bringing the annual figure to 55,034,955, according to data released on Monday by airport management company Aena.

The airport's estimated maximum capacity is 55 million. With that figure now breached the ongoing political and societal debate on the airport's expansion is set to ramp up.

Given the record numbers and with the expansion of the airport still to be implemented, Aena hopes to cater for more passengers by using more off-peak time slots and increasing off-season flights.

The previous annual record was 52.6 million passengers in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic.

International flights booming

The 55,034,955 passengers in 2024 marks a 10.3% increase on the previous year.

Of the total number of travelers last year, 54,932,207 were commercial passengers, up 10.3%. Of them, 40,721,234 traveled on international flights, up 12.5%, and 14,210,973 on domestic flights, up 4.2%. 

There were a total of 347,977 flights, an increase of 9.1% on 2023.

The airport also registered a record number of passengers for the month of December: 4,072,436, up 5.2% on December 2023.

Airport expansion  

President Salvador Illa said in September he will speed up efforts to unblock the long-stalled expansion of Barcelona's El Prat airport.

"Resolving the situation is crucial for connectivity and for the Catalan economy. We cannot allow it to be blocked and we must address it directly," he told Catalan public broadcaster TV3.

The technical commission on the airport's expansion is due to present its findings soon.

Debate

The future of the airport has been a topic of political and societal debate for years, which intensified in 2021.

Although most parties agree that the airport should become an intercontinental hub in one form or another, they disagree on how this should be done.

While some advocate expanding the airport's facilities, others want to improve its competitiveness without further construction.

At the heart of the debate is a plan to extend runway 24L/06R, the one closest to the sea, by 500 meters, and any work on it would affect the Ricarda Natural Park lagoon.

This natural area has special EU protection as an important habitat for biodiversity and any plans would have to be approved at European level.

To compensate, Aena, the Spanish airport authority, proposes to reforest about 280 hectares of land on the opposite side of the airport from where the Ricarda lagoon is located.

Girona and Reus

Girona airport welcomed almost 2 million passengers in 2024: 1,997,857, an increase of 25.9% on 2023.

Much of this growth comes from Ryanair's commitment to the winter season, on top of positive figures from various companies during the summer.

There were a total of 24,368 flights, 19.4% more than the previous year.

Reus airport increased its number of passengers by 13% in 2024 compared to the previous year.

The airport welcomed a total of 1,181,520 travelers on 21,921 flights, an increase of 6.9% compared to 2023.

Reus is Catalonia's third busiest airport after Barcelona-El Prat and Girona-Costa Brava.

Podcast

To learn more about the expansion plans for Barcelona airport, have a listen at this episode of our podcast Filling the Sink from 2021.