ENAIRE managed over 130,000 flights in February, 26.8% more than in 2022

• Overflights grow by 44.1%, international flights by 23.1% and domestic flights by 19.5%

• The growth of air traffic in Spain exceeds the European average by 3.8 points

• All ENAIRE control centres saw a double-digit increase in the number of flights managed

• A comparison of February 2023 with 2019 is 0.01%, and the cumulative figure represents a drop of 1.5%

ENAIRE, Spain’s national air navigation service provider, managed over 130,000 (134,125) flights in February, 26.8% more than in the same month last year. Of those, 70,161 were international (+23.1%), 30,728 were domestic (+19.5%), and 33,236 were overflights (which do not land at or depart from a Spanish airport) (+44.1%).

The growth of air traffic in Spain in February exceeded the European average, which was 23.0%, by 3.8 percentage points.

All ENAIRE control centres registered a double-digit increase in the number of flights managed: Seville recorded 31,413 flights (30.5%); Barcelona, 53,933 (29.3%); Madrid, 81,165 (25.6%); Canary Islands, 29,904 (20.7%); and Palma, 11,700 (15.4%).

Of note is the increase in overflights in February compared to 2022 in the control centres of Barcelona (71.4%) and Seville (64.5%) due to an increase in this type of flight between North Africa and Europe.
A comparison of February 2023 with the same month in 2019 (134,113 flights), a record year for flights managed by ENAIRE before the pandemic, shows no change (0.01%).

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. F

or 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 2023

In the first two months of the year, ENAIRE managed nearly 275,000 flights (274,417), 31.1% more than in the same period in 2022.

International flights in January and February (143,727) increased by 25.4%, domestic (62,774) by 19.2% and overflights (67,916) by 61.4%.

By control centre, the cumulative figures for Seville stand out, with 64,983 flights managed, a 44.8% increase; Barcelona with 110,908, 34.1% more, and Madrid with 166,112, 29.6% more.
A comparison between the first two months of 2023 and the same period in 2019 (278,584 flights) shows a drop of 1.5%.

ENAIRE drives the aviation sector

To prop up the aviation sector, the en route rates for 2023 remain well below the rates prior to the pandemic (2019), 11% lower in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands and 8% lower in the Canary Islands.
Moreover, compared to the average fees of Europe’s four largest air navigation service providers, ENAIRE’s rates are 28% cheaper in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands and 40% cheaper in the Canary Islands.

World leader in safety

ENAIRE’s priority when managing these flights is safety. Safety, efficiency and sustainability characterise ENAIRE’s management.

ENAIRE and CRIDA, its research, development and innovation subsidiary, received the 2021 CANSO Global Air Safety Award at the 2022 World ATM Congress.

This award acknowledges the work done by ENAIRE and CRIDA to develop a tool to automatically monitor for loss of separation between aircraft (Automatic Safety Monitoring Tool – ASMT).

ENAIRE- also photos