The number of flights to and from Spanish airports in September this year reached 94% of the number registered in September 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the travel industry, flight controlling agency ENAIRE said on Monday.
ENAIRE routed 191,069 flights in September to and from the country’s airports, which are operated by Madrid-listed and government controlled Aena, 93.9% of the figure in the same month in 2019, the agency said in a statement. The number of flights was 30% higher than during September 2021, ENAIRE added.
In September 2022, domestic traffic (37,918 flights) recovered 98.9% compared to the same month in 2019, international flights recovered to 90.2% (110,706), and overflights (those that do not depart from or land at a Spanish airport) rose by 0.2% (42,445).
There was a notable increase in the number of flights managed by the Seville control centre in September, 40,124 (4.3% more than in the same month in 2019), marking the sixth consecutive monthly increase.
International flights in the Canary Islands, 12,148, grew 1.3% in September over 2019 levels. The total number of flights managed in the Canary Islands was 28,010, 0.9% less.
The number of domestic flights managed by the Barcelona control centre, 17,037, rose 4.1%. The total number of flights was 96,056 (-3.9%).
The Madrid control centre handled nearly 100,000 flights (99,227), 6.2% less than in September 2019.
With regards cumulative data for 2022, in the first nine months of the year, ENAIRE managed nearly 1.5 million flights (1,495,446), 10.0% fewer than in the same period in 2019, of which 859,423 were international (-11.8%), 312,240 were domestic (-5.3%) and 323,783 were overflights (-9.3%).
A comparison of the flights managed by ENAIRE from January to September with those for the same period in 2021 shows an increase of 87%.
As most travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted around the world, the Spanish tourism industry has shown during the summer a swift recovery that seems to be continuing during the autumn.
Spain had been the second most visited country in the world in 2019, receiving 83.7m visitors during the full year. The number of foreign tourists who visited during 2020, however, fell by over 80% to 19 million, the lowest figure since 1969.
✈️ @ENAIRE recuperó el 94% de los vuelos en septiembre respecto a los niveles récord de 2019.
— ENAIRE (@ENAIRE) October 17, 2022
👍 La recuperación del tráfico aéreo en España supera a la media europea en siete puntos porcentuales.
ℹ️ Más información 👉 https://t.co/CXUeqNg8g0 pic.twitter.com/YpcCzcctmI
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