Record May for Barcelona airport with 4.5 million passengers

The airport of Barcelona closed last month with a record 4.5 million passengers, 5.2% more than the same month in 2017. Despite strikes by Vueling pilots, this figure makes it the best May in the history of the infrastructure

Passengers on international flights grew by 4.7%, while those travelling throughout Spain as a whole grew by 6.4%.

So far this year, the airport, based in El Prat just outside of the Catalan capital, has handled more than 18 million passengers, also marking an increase of 7% compared to the same period last year.

Goods transport

In May, Barcelona El Prat airport handled a total of 14,429 tonnes of goods, an increase of 10.1% from the previous month. Up until May this year, a total of 66,303 tonnes have been transported by the airport, a rise of 11.3% in comparison to the same period last year.

2017, a record year

Barcelona El Prat airport closed 2017 with a historic new record of 47.2 million passengers flying to and from the facility, an increase of 7.1% from 2016 when 44.1 million people used the airport, already a record in itself.

Traffic on domestic flights increased by 7.7% reaching a total of 12.7 million registered passengers, while people flying internationally increased by 6.8% to 34.5 million. The airport also dealt with over 156,000 tonnes of goods, a rise of around 15% compared to last year.

In December 2017, a total of nearly 3.2 million people used the facility, 6.4% more than 2016. Coinciding with the Christmas holidays, passengers flying within Spain increased the most, by 10.%, while 4.5% more people flew internationally.

This is despite the airport staff strike that took place in peak tourist season in August, which saw hundreds of passengers queuing for hours before being able to pass through security.