Another record-breaking month for air travel

The airports in the Aena network in Spain have closed the first month of 2024 with a historical record for passengers and cargo in the month of January, thus maintaining the upward trend of much of last year.

In January 2024, Aena received 18,667,212 passengers, 10.3% more than in the same month of 2023; managed 165,909 aircraft movements, 6% more than in 2023; and 91,752 tons of merchandise were moved, 23.1% more than last year.

Although January figures are still pending, pollution wise, in December, CO2 emissions were up 13% overall, and pollution per departure increased by 5% in December.

Of the total number of travellers in January, 18,601,093 were commercial passengers: 12,144,917 travelled on international flights, 13.2% more than in January 2023, while 6,456,176 travelled on domestic flights, 5.3% more than in January 2023.

The Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport registered the highest number of passengers in the first month of the year with 4,793,581, which represents a growth of 8.1% compared to January of last year.

They are followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 3,507,678 (+13.9% compared to 2023); Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 1,344,443 (+20%); Gran Canaria, with 1,291,168 (+7.2%); Tenerife South, with 1,205,932 (+10.3%); Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 958,088 (+20.5%); and Palma de Mallorca, with 889,815 (+3.6%).

During the month of January, passenger records were broken at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, Málaga-Costa del Sol, Seville, Tenerife North airports. City of La Laguna, Tenerife South, Valencia, Asturias, Bilbao, Ibiza, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, César Manrique-Lanzarote, La Gomera, Ceuta and Melilla.

Operations and cargo

In terms of operations, the airport with the most movements in January was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with a total of 31,617 (+4.2% compared to 2023), followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, with 23,614 flights (+12 .8%); Gran Canaria, with 11,446 (+3.6%); Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 10,330 (+14.5%); Palma de Mallorca, with 8,650 (+3.5%); Tenerife South, with 8,037 (+7.1%); and Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 6,468 landings and take-offs (+18.8%).

Regarding freight traffic, the airport with the highest cargo volume was Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with 55,051 tons, 24.5% more compared to the same month in 2023. It is followed by the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airports, with 13,644 tons (+28.4%); Zaragoza, which registered 10,791 tons (+33.3%); and Vitoria, with 5,964 tons (+5.3%).

Furthermore, in January, records were broken for goods in the month of January at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas and Santiago-Rosalía de Castro airports.

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