Passenger numbers grow 7.9% at Spanish airports

John Gallagher

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Spanish airport operator AENA has announced strong traffic results for 2004 with passenger numbers reaching 166m, an increase of 7.9% on the previous year

Madrid Barajas was once again the busiest airport in AENA's network with 38.5m passengers using the airport, an increase of 7.5% compared to 2003. Barcelona also showed strong gains, growing by 7.9% to 24.6m passengers.

Spanish tourist airports also enjoyed traffic increases. Palma de Mallorca reached 20.4m passengers, an increase of 6.4% on the previous year, Malaga was up 4.1% to 12.1m and Alicante grew by 4.6% to 8.6m.

The Canary Island airports had mixed fortunes. Las Palmas grew by 3.1% to 9.47m, Tenerife North was up 15.4% to 3.37m but Tenerife South fell by 2.5% to 8.63m

The growth of low-cost carriers has been an important factor at all airports in the AENA network. Previously underused airports have seen important increases in passenger numbers, including Costa Brava up 104% to 2.96m; Jerez, up 32% to 1.11m; Murcia San Javier, up 52.3% to 848,000; and Valladolid, up 90% to 441,800.