on the fly: What are Barcelona’s busiest airlines?
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Barcelona is one of Europe’s largest and most important airline markets, attracting both leisure and business traffic. In 2019, El Prat, the city’s main airport, welcomed nearly 53m passengers according to the airport operator AENA. That makes it Spain’s second busiest airport after Madrid. Passenger volume dropped to 13m in 2020, the first year of the global pandemic, recovering to 42m by 2022. Through the first four months of this year, figures have still been running about 5% below 2019 levels.
While this summer will be busy in Barcelona, airline capacity will still be down quite substantially from where it was before the pandemic. An analysis of Cirium Diio data shows scheduled seats for the peak July-to-September quarter will be down 10% from the same period in 2019. The airport’s leading carrier, Vueling, will still be about 11% smaller in Barcelona than it was four years earlier. Britain’s easyJet will be a full 33% smaller. On the other hand, Ryanair, Iberia, and Wizz Air are among the market’s larger airlines that have grown their Barcelona presence.
This summer, the two busiest airline markets from Barcelona will be Palma and Ibiza, two popular island markets. Madrid is next, though this market has a high-speed rail option. The busiest international route from Barcelona is Amsterdam, or London if you combine the city’s multiple airports. New York JFK and Dubai are the largest intercontinental markets.
Below is a ranking of Barcelona’s airline groups by total seats scheduled for the 12 months ending in June. IAG (International Airlines Group) includes Vueling, Iberia, British Airways, and Aer Lingus. It might soon include Air Europa (number seven on this list) if regulators approve IAGs takeover.
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