Spanish Airlines Prepare for Winter Season

As of Oct. 28, 108.8 million seats have been scheduled to fly into and out of all airports in the Aena (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea) network — a group of airports in Spain owned by operator Aena — representing an increase of 4.2% compared to the offering for the same period in 2019, before the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

In the domestic market, the overall seat offering will increase by 9% with more than 41 million seats, while in the international market, the increase will be 1% with 67.4 million seats.

The number of scheduled movements also grew by 2.3% with more than 639,000 commercial operations.

The main airports are close to the same number of scheduled seats in 2019 and some of them register an above pre-pandemic supply increase. Among them stand out:

• Madrid – Barajas 27.2 million seats (-3%).

• Barcelona – El Prat 20.4 million seats (-3%)

• Gran Canaria 7.8 million seats (+18%)

• Tenerife South 6.4 million seats (+25%)

• Palma de Mallorca 6.6 million (+15%)

During the winter season, strong demand for warmer destinations to the Canary and Balearic Islands is clear as both markets continue to develop a progressive recovery.

Following Spain, the main international markets where airlines have added the greatest offer of seats are the United Kingdom with 12.4 million (-5%), Germany with 9.6 million (+5%) and Italy with 6.6 million (+12%).

In the intercontinental market, Latin America and the Caribbean are leading the recovery of long-haul flights, and with the White House’s announcement of the lifting of the border restrictions for vaccinated foreigners, airlines have increased their offer to the United States during the winter season. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific region continues to be the most affected by sanitary restrictions.

Overall data for the 2021-2022 winter season is positive, but the degree of uncertainty remains high. As a result, seating and movement schedules remain subject to change by airlines depending on the evolving pandemic.

This article was written by Rainer Nieves Dolande for Aviacionline.

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Parker Davis

Parker joined AirlineGeeks as a writer and photographer in 2016, combining his longtime love for aviation with a newfound passion for journalism. Since then, he’s worked as a Senior Writer before becoming Editor-in-Chief of the site in 2020. Originally from Dallas and an American frequent flyer, he left behind the city’s rich aviation history to attend college in North Carolina, where he’s studying economics.

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