ENAIRE recovered 92.3% of flights in April compared to the record levels of 2019

Domestic traffic is picking up the fastest

• The control centres in Palma, Seville and the Canary Islands are already surpassing their pre-COVID figures
• ENAIRE managed nearly 170,000 flights in the fourth month of the year
• If compared to April 2021, the number is 230.3% higher
• The recovery of air traffic in Spain exceeds the European average by over 10 percentage points
• Flights in the Balearic Islands went up by almost 10%

The trend continues as air traffic recovers to pre-pandemic levels. ENAIRE managed nearly 170,000 flights (169,157) in April (which includes Holy Week), which is just 7.7% below the average for the entire network for the same month in 2019, a record year for traffic before the effects of COVID took hold in 2020.

This figure means that ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, recovered 92.3% of flights in April compared to 2019 levels, which is 5.9 points higher that the percentage recovered in March 2022 (86.4%).

This recovery in the number of flights in Spain is over 10 percentage points higher (10.4%) than the average recorded throughout Europe, which saw a decrease in April of 18.1% with respect to 2019.

A comparison between the flights managed by ENAIRE in April 2022 and those in the same period in 2021 shows an increase of 230.3%.

Domestic flights in April 2022 (34,616) exhibited the best trend, with a drop of 3.3% with respect to the same month in 2019, equivalent to recovering 96.7% of the flights compared to the same month in that year. International flights (98,312) went down by 7.9% compared to 2019, and overflights (those that do not depart from or land at a Spanish airport) fell by 11.3% to 36,229.

There was a notable increase in the number of flights managed by the Palma control centre, almost 10% more (9.8%) than in April 2019 with 29,056 flights.

More flights were also managed in the control centres of Seville (37,366, 0.6% more) and the Canary Islands (29,975, 0.2% more). The Barcelona centre managed 78,779 flights, 5.3% fewer, and Madrid, 93,513, 8.8% fewer.

Traffic comparison April 2022/2019

TOTAL % International % Domestic % Overflights %

ENAIRE network
169,157 – 7.7% 98,312 -7.9% 34,616 -3.3% 36,229 -11.3%

Madrid CC
93,513 – 8.8% 48,716 -8.3% 15,355 -9.7% 29,442 -9.1%

Barcelona CC
78,779 – 5.3% 55,115 -6.3% 15,575 1.3% 8,089 -10.4%

Canary Islands CC
29,975 0.2% 15,200 4.8% 12,097 -1.3% 2,678 -15.3%

Seville CC
37,366 0.6% 18,349 -1.0% 10,177 5.4% 8,840 -1.4%

Palma CC
29,056 9.8% 19,947 11.9% 9,082 5.9% 27 -48.1%

Note. The total number of flights operated by ENAIRE’s network does not necessarily match the total number of flights managed by each Control Centre (CC). This is due to the fact that a flight is registered according to the airspace and route it crosses. For example: a flight departing from Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport bound for Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat will be registered at the Control Centres in Madrid and Barcelona.

Cumulative data for 2022

In the first four months of the year, ENAIRE managed 513,907 flights, 16.9% fewer than in the same period in 2019, of which 286,028 were international (-16.9%), 118,599 were domestic (-11.7%) and 109,280 (-22.0%) were overflights. A comparison of the flights managed by ENAIRE in the first four months with those in the same period in 2021 shows an increase of 195.5%.

Cumulative air traffic comparison January-April 2022/2019

TOTAL % International % Domestic % Overflights %

ENAIRE network
513,907 -16.9% 286,028 -16.9% 118,599 -11.7% 109,280 -22.0%

Madrid CC
302,992 -17.1% 162,393 -15.7% 52,627 -18.3% 87,972 -18.8%

Barcelona CC
216,659 -16.2% 141,810 -16.7% 49,447 -11.3% 25,402 -22.5%

Canary Islands CC
110,949 -9.7% 57,785 -8.3% 43,296 -7.9% 9,868 -23.2%

Seville CC
114,234 -11.2% 54,849 -8.7% 34,695 -2.9% 24,690 -24.8%

Palma CC
64,414 0.5% 36,331 4.7% 27,983 -4.2% 100 -51.2%

2022-2023 Summer Plan

For the high air traffic seasons (summer in mainland Spain and Balearic Islands and winter in the Canary Islands) in 2022 and 2023, ENAIRE has an ambitious action plan involving technical, operational and airspace restructuring projects, its so-called “2022-2023 Summer Plan”, which is based on the ENAIRE strategy defined in its 2025 Flight Plan and is part of a framework of work and collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Aena and air carriers and associations.

In light of the continuing upward trend in air traffic, the 2022-2023 Summer Plan includes the national and international technical, operational and human resources measures needed to achieve the best possible safety,
efficiency, speed, service quality and sustainability rates.

This requires the implementation of unrestricted routes so that airlines can fly on optimised, phased trajectories in 2022 and 2023-2024; new tools for flow control and dynamic airspace sectors.

ENAIRE lowers its charges to help the sector

ENAIRE drastically reduced its air navigation charges in 2021 to speed the recovery of the aviation sector.

Of the 38 countries in EUROCONTROL, Spain, through ENAIRE, is the one that lowered its route charges the most in 2021, to around 8% below the average charge.

ENAIRE reduced its continental route charge in 2020 (-16.7%) and 2021 (-11%) by 26%, and in the Canary Islands (-12.5% /-8.5%, respectively) by 20%, thus helping the aviation sector to recover from the crisis brought about by the
pandemic.

Moreover, until 2024, air navigation charges will remain below 2019 levels, a,year in which ENAIRE was already operating with the lowest charges in the last ten years, and which were among the most competitive in Europe. As a
result, the continental charges in 2022 will be 19.4% lower than in 2019, and in the Canary Islands they will be lowered by 14.4%.

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