Three out of four passengers at Barcelona Airport fly with low-cost airlines 

With representatives of the Catalan and Spanish executives meeting on Thursday to launch a technical commission to plan the future of Barcelona-El Prat Airport, analysis from the Catalan News Agency (ACN) shows that three out of four passengers flew with low-cost airlines in 2023. 

Looking at the top 60 airlines at Barcelona Airport, 73.7% of passengers used a low-cost company, ten percentage points above the average for Spain, and well above Madrid, where just 30% of passengers fly low-cost, according to data from airport management company Aena.  

Experts say it would be difficult for the Catalan capital to replicate Madrid's business model, but call for more long-haul routes from Barcelona and deny that expanding the airport would lead to more mass tourism. 

No change during pandemic 

Last year in Barcelona, out of more than 49 million passengers, about 36 million flew low-cost, with the other 13 million opting for traditional, charter and holiday flights. 

That ratio has been stable for almost a decade, with no significant change during the pandemic. 

In fact, 2021 was the year with the highest proportion of low-cost travelers in the least 15 years, with 75.7% of the total. 

Budget airlines carried around six in ten passengers in 2010, rising to seven in ten a year later, since when it has remained relatively consistent. 

Top four airlines low-cost 

The top four airlines at Barcelona Airport are low-cost: Vueling, with over 20.5 million passengers, 40% of the airport's total; Ryanair, with over 8.5 million passengers, 17% of the total; Easyjet, with over 2.3 million passengers; and Wizz Air with almost 2 million. 

According to Òscar Oliver, a former commercial director of Aeroports de Catalunya and a professor at UPC, the airport's growth has been driven by low-cost airlines and says that, thanks to them, the Catalan capital has the most important short- and medium-haul network in Europe. 

"We owe a lot to these companies," Oliver told ACN 

Furthermore, having low-cost passengers does not necessarily mean "low-cost tourists," according to Alícia Casart, Director of Infrastructure Studies at Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. 

"We know that those who use low-cost airlines are not only low-cost tourists. Catalan businesspeople also benefit from good prices on connections to Europe." 

Traditional airlines

Iberia is the top traditional airline that operates at Barcelona Airline, appearing in fifth place with just over 1.9 million customers. That figure also includes flights operated by Level. 

Lufthansa, Air Europa, British Airways, Air France and Eurowings round out the list of the ten most popular airlines in 2023. 

Traditional companies are generally those that used to be flagship airlines, national carriers which were later privatized. 

These airlines already have hubs, such as Madrid in the case of Iberia, meaning "this classic model is very difficult to replicate in Barcelona," Casart says. 

In Spain, 63.7% of passengers flew low-cost in 2023. At Madrid-Barajas, the figure was 29.1%, while traditional, charter and holiday flights stood at 70.1%, figures that are almost the opposite of those in Barcelona. 

The future of Barcelona Airport

The Catalan and Spanish governments met on Thursday to form the commission that will deal with the future of El Prat airport. The aim is to agree on a plan for the "necessary modernization and improvement of the airport's capacity".

The Socialists and Esquerra have agreed to create several working groups to be set up in the coming weeks, with equal representation from both parties. The first proposals are expected by the end of the year. 

"We want an airport with more international flights [...] It must respect environmental rights and noise limits," said Marc Sanglas, the Catalan secretary for mobility.