The robust health of the main routes at El Prat and those expected in 2017

Barcelona airport closes a record 2016 and sets course for growth in intercontinental flights, the most wanted

With more than 44 million passengers in 2016, Barcelona-El Prat airport has once again experienced a record year in all figures: it has increased the number of travellers by 11.2% compared to the previous year, has achieved 6.6% more operations, totalling 307,864 take-offs and landings, and has also grown more than 13% in air cargo, surpassing the 132 million kilos transported on purely freight aircraft or in the holds of passenger aircraft.

Of all the airports with which Barcelona has direct flights, nine of them exceeded one million passengers with El Prat.

Out of this traffic two aspects can be clearly distinguished: point to point, that is, passengers that specifically target the city of destination, as is the case of Ibiza, Palma, Orly or Gatwick; and others where connecting flights have great weight, that is the large European hubs of companies such as Air France / KLM, in the footsteps of Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol, Lufthansa in the case of Frankfurt, Alitalia in Fiumicino (although this would be the least noteworthy hub) and Iberia in Madrid to link Barcelona with the wide American network of the Spanish airline.

By 2017, in addition to a certain increase in passenger numbers and operations at El Prat, there will be numerous changes in the behaviour of passengers travelling to and from Barcelona owing to a good number of new features in the long-haul sector, the most sought after flights at an ever more consolidated airport in Europe that is looking to gain weight in the world map with new direct flights to America and Asia.

On Thursday, a direct route was officially inaugurated to Hong Kong, which will be operated as of summer by one of the most prestigious and award-winning companies in the world, Cathay Pacific, founded 70 years ago in the former British colony.

Source: La Vanguardia/ January 2017

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee

promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights