The Canary Islands are closer than ever to Madrid and Catalonia in the ranking national airport traffic. After an extraordinary November 2023, in which the eight aerodromes of the Archipelago all had more passengers than in the same month last year, the Islands not only consolidate themselves in the third box of this particular classification, but in fact they shorten distances with the Madrid and Catalan airports. Not in vain, Neither Barajas nor El Prat can even match the numbers of travelers that were registered in 2019the last year before the double crisis of covidfirst, and inflation, later, while seven of the eight Canary Islands aerodromes – all except La Palma – are above pre-pandemic numbers. Actually much above.
The La Palma aerodrome is the only one of the eight islands that is below the pre-crisis figures
Aena, the semi-public entity in charge of managing the national airport network, updated the official passenger traffic statistics this Tuesday with data from last month. Data that corroborate the extraordinary and to some extent unexpected tourist boom – or tourist boom – which the Archipelago has enjoyed since the covid crisis was shelved. In year-on-year terms, that is, compared to November 2022, The region’s aerodromes saw their number of travelers increase last month by percentages ranging between 4.7% in La Palma and Tenerife North and 11.4% in La Gomera.. If the analysis is limited to the five large island airports, those that exceed five million passengers per year –Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote-César Manrique, Fuerteventura and Tenerife North-Ciudad de La Laguna–, The increase in travelers moved in November between +4.7% at Los Rodeos and +10.8% at Reina Sofía, the two Tenerife airfields. In sum, a total of 4.3 million passengers were recorded last month in the entire regional airport network, 7.5% more than in November 2022. And what is more important: with all the aerodromes, with the exception of the Beautiful island, in record numbers. A new record that is also established in the cumulative total of the year, that is, in the number of travelers who used the Canarian airports between January 1 and November 30.
Passenger traffic grows more than double digits in Lanzarote, Tenerife South and Fuerteventura
In that period, that is, So far in 2023, a whopping 44 million passengers have been recorded at the aerodromes of the Autonomous Community. They are 11.8% more than in the same period of 2022 and are, it must be insisted, a new historical ceiling. 44 million travelers that place the Canary Islands as the third region in the country, and closer than ever to Madrid and, above all, Catalonia. The capital community leads the ranking with the 55.2 million passengers who have passed through the macrohub de Barajas, which is not for nothing one of the busiest airports not only in Spain, but also in Europe and much of the world. In second place is Catalonia with just under 49 million travelers in El Prat – the vast majority, a total of 46 million –, Girona-Costa Brava, Reus and the testimonial contribution of the Sabadell aerodrome. However, and Unlike the island airport network, both Madrid and Catalonia are far from their passenger ceiling, so the Archipelago shortens their distances..
These more than 55 million Madrid-Barajas travelers are, without going any further, 3% less than in 2019; and the 46 in El Prat are still 6.1% below pre-crisis figures. So while the Canary Islands aerodromes do not stop gaining passengers, those in Madrid and Catalonia still do not reach the numbers before the covid. The result is that the distance between the Islands and the second place on the podium is reduced to only 4.6 million travelers, the historical minimum. Fourth place is occupied by the Balearic Islands with 43.1 million, around one million less than in the Canary Islands.
