Air travel

Palma passenger numbers exceeding Madrid and Barcelona

Passengers arriving at Son Sant Joan. | Teresa Ayuga

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma12/08/2020 13:35

In July, 1.1 million passengers passed through Palma's Son Sant Joan Airport. This was a higher number than either Madrid-Barajas or Barcelona-El Prat; Palma normally ranks third behind these airports in terms of passenger numbers. Despite Son Sant Joan having had more passengers than any other airport in Spain, the number was down 73.8% compared with July last year.

The Aena airports authority reports that there were 6.9 million passengers for the whole airport network, a decrease of 76.2%. At Palma, there were more flights than at any other airport - 12,478, a fall of 56.6%. The discrepancy between the decreases in flights and passengers is explained by there having been lower aircraft capacity and occupancy.

At Ibiza Airport, there were 426,287 passengers last month, a fall of 68%; there were 6,939 flights, which were down 46.3%. At Minorca, the passengers' number was 207,880, a decrease of 67.5% on 50% fewer flights (2,496).

Of all passengers on flights in and out of Spanish airports last month, 3.2 million were domestic travellers (down 61.9%) and 3.7 million were international (a drop of 82.2%).

At Madrid-Barajas, there were 990,899 passengers (down 83.3%), while there was a 83.7% decrease at Barcelona-El Prat (872,924 passengers). Ibiza was fifth in terms of total passenger numbers, Malaga-Costa del Sol having been fourth with 575,724.

* Just to emphasise: these passenger and flight numbers are for both arrivals and departures.