Barcelona El Prat Airport reaches more than 35 million passengers between January and November

Barcelona (ACN).- The number of passengers travelling through the main Catalan airport continues to grow year after year. Between January and November, 35.1 million people used this infrastructure, which represents a 6.8% increase from the same period in 2013, according to figures released on Thursday by the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA). In the first 11 months of 2014, the number of passengers almost reached the global passenger figure for the whole of 2013: 35.2 million. In monthly terms, Barcelona El Prat posted a 3.8% passenger growth in November, reaching 2,473,568 passengers. EU passengers increased by 8.5%, while passengers from non-EU international flights dropped by 3.4% from November 2013 and those from domestic flights decreased by 0.2%. These figures coincide with a great increase of intercontinental passengers going through Madrid Barajas, which increased its global number of passengers by 9.3% in November, after years of drops, reaching a total of 3,260,395 travellers. Besides, the airline Norwegian also announced on Thursday the opening of 5 new routes from Barcelona's main airport.

Regarding the aircraft operations, 19,403 landings and take-offs took place in Barcelona El Prat Airport during November, which represents a 1.5% drop from the same month in 2013. This figure is in contrast with the 3.8% passenger increase registered that month. During the first 11 months of 2014, 264,879 aircraft movements took place in Catalonia's main airport, which represents a 3% increase on the same period of 2013.

Furthermore, 9.34 million kilos of goods were transported through El Prat in November, a 1% growth compared to the same month of 2013. In the whole of 2014, 93.92 million kilos of goods have travelled through Barcelona's main airport, a 2.8% increase.

Norwegian to fly to 15 destinations from Barcelona El Prat

Besides, on the same day those figures were released, the low-cost airline Norwegian announced it will expand its operations from Barcelona El Prat, basing a fourth aircraft in the Catalan airport. In April 2014 it started to base planes in Barcelona, with 3 aircrafts already. In the summer season of 2015 it will connect Catalonia's capital with its existent routes and with Birmingham, Dubrovnik, Billund, Stavanger and Trondheim, adding 5 new destinations. Norwegian will be offering 2 weekly flights in each direction for each of the new routes, which will start their activity between the 1^st and 4^th of June. After these novelties, the Scandinavian company, which is Europe's third largest low-cost airline, will be connecting Barcelona with 15 destinations, including Berlin, Hamburg, London, Oslo, Bergen, Stockholm, Goteborg, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Warsaw. Norwegian will be operating 158 weekly flights from or to Barcelona, equivalent to 29,388 seats. In 2014, the airline expects to have transported more than 800,000 people through the Catalan airport.