Airlines schedule more seats for this winter at El Prat than in 2019

A few days before the start of the winter season, Barcelona Airport is preparing for months of intense activity, with more scheduled seats than in 2019, the last season before the COVID pandemic. Airlines foresee a total of 21.6 million seats at El Prat, 2.8% more than those filled in the 2019-2020 winter season ---about 600,000 more seats---. As for operations, some 112,400 are expected, also improving the overall figure from three years ago.

The comparison between both seasons leaves out the last two weeks of March 2020, when international mobility plummeted due to the pandemic. Nor is it comparable to the seats initially scheduled for the 2019-2020 winter season, which were about 23.3 million, but only about 21,000 were actually executed. Forecasts made at the beginning of a season are always subject to changes by airlines, whether due to routes canceled due to lack of demand or cancellations due to strikes.

What Aena has included in its calculations is the impact that will occur next March with the works on one of the infrastructure's runways to change the pavement, which will mean reducing the available slots and total capacity. With an investment of 4.9 million euros, the works will affect the main runway, 06L-24R, which will not be operational for 14 days. Runway 02-20, a crossing runway where complementary work will be carried out, will also be affected, requiring its closure for two days.

With airline scheduling in hand, it will be the first time that El Prat sees its planned offer recovered since the outbreak of the pandemic. In this sense, for this summer, 36.2 million seats were scheduled, 10% less than in the 2019 season. In all of Spain, the only airport that surpasses El Prat in the number of planned seats between October and March is Madrid, with 29.7 million, 5.8% more than in 2019.

By zones, Barcelona Airport has scheduled 12.5 million seats with Europe and 6.5 million with the rest of Spain. Aena highlights the expected growth in Africa, with 26% more seats than three years ago, reaching almost 800,000. Likewise, by country, the destinations that are rising the most are Morocco (+45%), Portugal (+26%), the Netherlands (+20%), and Italy (+10%).