Barcelona airport sees almost 50m passengers in 2023, still below pre-pandemic levels

Barcelona’s Josep Tarradellas-Barcelona el Prat airport saw 49.9 million passengers in 2023, a figure that represents significant growth compared to the previous year but is still below pre-pandemic levels.  

The figure is 19.9% higher than that of 2022, but still 5.3% lower than 2019, the record year in which 52.7 million passengers passed through the airport, of which 36 million took international commercial flights. 

In total, the airport had 318,957 flights, 12.5% more than in 2022, but 7.4% less than in 2019. 

Barcelona-El Prat Airport, operated by public company Aena, which operates 46 airports in Spain, was the second busiest airport in 2023, just behind Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas Airport, which had more than 60 million passengers last year. 

On a European level, Barcelona Airport was the seventh busiest airport in 2023. 

Furthermore, 16.2 million passengers started and ended their trips in Barcelona, making it the second most popular European airport after London’s Heathrow.  

2023 busier than 2019 

December 2023 was the busiest month at Barcelona Airport with 3.8 million passengers, surpassing the number of December 2022 by 17,2% and that of December 2019 by 5.6%. 

At the same time, the airport saw a 16.4% increase in take offs and landings in December 2023 compared to the previous year, and a 3.5% increase compared to 2019. 

Over 2.5 million passengers in Reus and Girona 

The second busiest airport in Catalonia was Girona, north of Barcelona, which saw 1,586,463 passengers in 2023. Although this is an increase on 2022, numbers are still 5.7% below those before the pandemic. 

Reus Airport, one hour south of Barcelona. also saw an increase in the number of passengers in 2023 compared to 2022, although it also didn't surpass 2019 figures. In total, 1,045,419 passengers flew to and from the airport. 

Historic record for the Aena network 

2023 was a record year for the Aena network. In total, Aena airports saw 283,195,399 passengers, an increase of 16.2% compared to 2022, and 2.9% more than 2019. 

Maurici Lucena, president of Aena, was pleased with the figures because “they are fundamental for the economic and social development of Spain."

"We all should be happy. Like Aena, the airlines also suffered the consequences of the pandemic, and are now carrying more passengers than ever before," he added.