• Domestic flights and overflights already exceed 2019 figures
  • The recovery of air traffic in Spain exceeds the European average by over 11 percentage points
  • The flights managed in Seville rose by 15.4%
  • Eighth consecutive month of traffic growth in the Balearic Islands
  • Flights in the Canary Islands increased by 5%
  • In October, Barcelona managed more flights than in 2019
  • Madrid managed over 100,000 flights in the past month
  • Compared to the number of flights in October 2021, the increase was 28.1% throughout Spain

The trend in air traffic puts the number of flights managed by ENAIRE throughout Spain at practically the same level as before the pandemic.

ENAIRE managed over 190,000 flights (190,810) in October, which is just 0.7% 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 99% (99.3%) of flights in October compared to 2019 levels.

photo Enaire

Domestic flights and overflights already exceed 2019 figures. In October 2022, domestic flights numbered 38,085, an increase of 1.7%. Overflights (flights that do not depart from or arrive at a Spanish airport) totalled 43,097, 5.7% more. With regard to international flights, 109,628, the recovery stood at 96.3%.

This recovery in October in the number of flights in Spain was 11 percentage points higher (11.7%) than the average recorded throughout Europe, which saw a decrease in October of 12.4% with respect to the same month in 2019.

Trend by control centre

There was a notable increase in the number of flights managed by the Seville control centre in October, 43,644 (15.4% more than in the same month in 2019), marking the seventh consecutive monthly increase.

In the Palma Control Centre, the number of consecutive monthly increases now stands at eight, with 34,702 flights managed in October, 10.8% more than in the same month in 2019.

The number of flights in the Canary Islands, 31,201, was 5.0% higher in October than in 2019.

The flights managed by the Barcelona Control Centre, 91,352, rose for the first time after COVID, 1.8% in October.

The Madrid Control Centre managed more than 100,000 flights (101,687), which means it recovered 96.6% of the traffic from 2019 during the past month.

A comparison between the flights managed by ENAIRE in October 2022 and those in the same period in 2021 reveals an increase of 28.1%.

Traffic comparison October 2022/2019
TOTAL % International % Domestic % Overflights %

ENAIRE network
190,810 – 0.7% 109,628 – 3.7% 38,085 1.7% 43,097 5.7%

Madrid CC
101,687 -3.4% 51,552 – 5.6% 17,047 – 6.4% 33,088 1.8%

Barcelona CC
91,352 1.8% 64,066 – 1.7% 16,364 4.8% 10,922 22.1%

CanaryIslands CC
31,201 5.0% 14,801 8.0% 13,336 4.6% 3,064 – 5.8%

Seville CC
43,644 15.4% 20,310 8.5% 11,377 12.1% 11,957 33.4%

Palma CC
34,702 10.8% 24,803 9.1% 9,864 15.1% 35 40.0%

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 ten months of the year, ENAIRE managed nearly 1.7 million flights (1,686,256), 9.0% fewer than in the same period in 2019, of which 969,051 were international (-10.9%), 350,325 were domestic (-4.6%), and 366,880 were overflights (-7.7%).

A comparison of the flights managed by ENAIRE from January to October with those for the same period in 2021 shows an increase of 77.8%.

Cumulative air traffic comparison January-October 2022/2019
TOTAL % International % Domestic % Overflights %

ENAIRE network
1,686,256 – 9.0% 969,051 – 10.9% 350,325 -4.6% 366,880 – 7.7%

Madrid CC
907,153 – 10.1% 462,511 -11.8% 156,694 – 9.8% 287,948 – 7.6%

Barcelona CC
806,613 – 6.6% 561,630 – 8.9% 154,555 – 0.6% 90,428 – 0.9%

Canary IslandsCC
284,484 – 3.9% 134,466 -2.4% 122,202 – 2.5% 27,816 – 15.3%

Seville CC
366,741 1.0% 171,803 -3.5% 100,517 3.9% 94,421 6.8%

Palma CC
314,355 2.9% 218,219 2.8% 95,768 3.3% 368 – 24.1%

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

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