Low-cost airlines transported 43.5 million international passengers to Spain between January and September of this year, which represents 6.1% more and an increase of 2.5 million tourists compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released at the weekend by Turespaña.
In the first nine months of 2019, 40.9 million travellers arrived in Spain via ‘low cost’, which represented 55.1% of the total 74.3 million international passengers, while this year the figure is 59.5% of the total of 73.1 million passengers.
The situation was quite the opposite, however, for traditional airline companies, which failed to exceed the pre-pandemic figures between January and September, being 10.9% below, that is, with 3.6 million fewer passengers.
In terms of nationalities, 31.3% of international tourists who arrived at ‘low cost’ were British, with 13.6 million, 269,847 more than in 2019. Germany was the second largest market, with 5.4 million, 4.7% lower than the pre-pandemic level. They are followed by Italy (+11.2%), France (+13.6%) and the Netherlands (+7.4%).
In terms of the busiest airports, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat once again leads the number of passengers received by low-cost airlines, with 9.1 million, although that is 6.4% below the 2019 figure. It is followed by the airports of Palma de Mallorca, with 6,697,314 (+14.7% compared to 2019%); Málaga-Costa del Sol, with 5,219,804 (+10.8%); Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, with 4,549,813 (+5.7%); and Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, with 3,448,274 (-18.8%).
RYANAIR CONTINUES AS THE LEADER
This trend of increasing passengers in low-cost airlines is once again led by Ryanair since, with data from Aena, it is the airline that tops the ranking of passenger traffic to and from Spanish airports, with a total of 46, 5 million passengers, 19.7% more than in 2019.
Vueling is once again in second place in this classification with 35.4 million passengers, 6.7% more than before the pandemic. They are followed by Iberia (+3.4%) and Air Europa (-12.6%).
Another ‘low cost’ airline, Iberia Express, transported 9.1 million international tourists (+18.8%).
TOURISTS UP TO SEPTEMBER
In total, Spain received 73.2 million passengers from international airports during the first nine months of the year, which is 19.1% more than in 2022, but 1.5% lower than the 2019 figure.
In September, passengers from international airports who arrived in Spain numbered 9.5 million, 13.2% more than in the same month of 2022 and practically back to the pre-pandemic level.
The acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Héctor Gómez, wrote in a press release that the diversification of the markets of origin, “is great news for the image of a sector that is experiencing a profound revolution in terms of quality of destinations and tourist experiences available to travellers.
