7 Spanish airports, European leaders in terms of traffic or growth
28 February, 2024ACI Europe’s Airport Traffic Report 2023 reveals a different European aviation market, reshaped by a combination of structural changes, demand resilience and severe geopolitical tension. Spain’s airports were the only ones (along with Italy) to fully recover from the crisis, with seven Spanish airports taking top positions as regards traffic or growth.
Madrid-Barajas Airport closed the year in the Top 5 European airports, ranking as the fifth hub in Europe. Among the airports reporting the best performance in passenger traffic were Palma de Mallorca Airport (+4.7%), Malaga Airport which, with over 22.3 million passengers (+12.6%), handled more passengers than Brussels Airport; and Tenerife South (+10.5%) and Valencia (+16.6%).
Smaller and regional airports recorded exponential growth in passenger traffic, well above their pre-pandemic (2019) levels, largely because they serve tourist destinations and/or attracted low-cost airline capacity, such as Zaragoza (+47%) and Oviedo (+40%).