International air passenger numbers were up 10.3% in November with a total of 6.8 million travellers

Of these 6,798,330 arrivals, 58.3% came from within the EU, an increase of 8.7%, while the flow from the rest of the world, which accounted for the remaining 43.1%, was up 12.4%. In the first ten months of the year, Spain received 98.3 million international passengers, 11.3% more than in the same period of 2023.

As has been the case throughout the year, November also saw an increase in passengers departing to Spain from all the main outbound markets compared to the figures for the same month in 2023. In November, the trend towards market diversification continued to grow in strength, with the good performance of travellers from countries such as Canada, China and the Persian Gulf countries.

In terms of traditional markets, the United Kingdom, with 1.3 million international passengers, generated 19.1% of the total flow of arrivals to Spain in November, registering a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. The Canary Islands was the main beneficiary, with 40,000 additional passengers this month. Some 82.4% of British passengers travelled on a low-cost airline, with the UK being the leader in low-cost airline arrivals, accounting for 26.9% of the total, an increase of 9.3% year-on-year. The rise for traditional airlines was significantly lower at 0.2%.

Passenger arrivals from Germany stood at 0.9 million in November (12.8% of the total), up 9.6% compared to November 2023. German travellers mainly went to the Canary Islands (38.4%). As a noteworthy fact and as is a usual trend in this market, 51.9% of German passengers travelled on traditional airlines, and is the market that leads arrivals on these airlines (15.9% of the total and an increase of 7.7%).

Italy accounted for 10.7% of the passenger flow received in November (725,732 passengers), registering a year-on-year growth of 15.2%, which particularly benefited Catalonia and the Community of Madrid (together they received more than 62% of the passengers). The rest of the main regions received more Italian passengers than a year ago, except Cantabria and Galicia. Among Italian travellers, low-cost airlines prevailed over traditional airlines (79.5%).

France, on the other hand, accounted for 6.9% of the total number of passengers in November (472,165 travellers), an increase of 3.8% that particularly favoured the Community of Madrid and Catalonia, which accounted for more than 61% of arrivals from this country. A total of 63.3% of French passengers flew with a low-cost airline (LCA), a year-on-year growth of 5.5%.

Finally, 4.7% of all travellers arrived from the Netherlands (320,344). This market experienced a growth of 4.7% in November and its main destinations were Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia, with more than 60,000 travellers between the three of them. The Basque Country and Madrid stood out for their high year-on-year variations of 17.1% and 13.6% respectively. The vast majority of travellers from the Netherlands (69.4%) also opted for low-cost carriers for their flights, an expansion of 2.9%.

Autonomous communities of destination

The six main communities receiving visitors accounted for a 97.5% share of arrivals, recording notable increases in the eleventh month of the year. All of them recorded double-digit increases of more than 10%, except Catalonia, where the increase was a more moderate 8%; Andalusia, for its part, recorded the highest year-on-year rise of 12.8%.

Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport received the most arrivals in November, with 1.9 million, followed by Barcelona, with 1.4 million, and Malaga, with 607,254 arrivals. The largest year-on-year increase was at Barajas airport, with a 28% increase compared to November 2023.

Non official translation