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AENA, Spain’s national airport operator, has announced a dramatic 99.4 per cent fall in the number of passengers, compared to the same period last year, since the Spanish government introduced a state of alarm due to the worldwide COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on March 14.
The state of emergency decreed by the Spanish Government banned travel except for reasons of force majeure, residence or work. Many other countries worldwide introduced similar restrictions to combat the spread of the virus.
The airports in Aena’s network closed April at 141,014 passengers. 126,066 were commercial passengers with 72,233 on domestic flights and 53,833 on international flights.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport had the highest number of passengers in the network at 46,743 travellers, which is a 99.1% decrease over the same month in 2019. It is followed by Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 25,307 (-99.4%); Gran Canaria with 15,650 (-98.6%); Tenerife Norte with 9,253 (-98.1%); and Palma de Mallorca with 8,955 (-99.6%).
Freight traffic fell by 59.7% down to 34,675 tons carried due to the fact that a very substantial part of regular freight is carried by commercial passenger aircraft.
The four airports with the highest freight traffic were Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas with 18,041 tons (-59%); Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat with 4,924 tons (-64.7%); Zaragoza with 4,301 tons (-72.9%); and Vitoria with 4,006 tons (-19.5%).
Since the onset of the crisis, Aena has focussed the efforts of its airports on operating essential flights to ensure the arrival of medical supplies along with other goods needed to provide for the public at large, while also helping Spaniards to return and non-resident foreigners to head back to their home countries. Alongside these operations, it is also conducting other critical ones such as emergency, National Transplant Organisation and law enforcement agency flights.
Aena is working in conjunction with domestic and international health and transport authorities to put in place appropriate safety protocols and draw up its Operational Recovery Plan which will conform to European and Spanish regulations to ensure the safety of passengers and workers once mobility restrictions are lifted.
