Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) revealed the 10 airports in Europe with the most passengers in May and the airports that saw their passenger numbers grow the most in that month. Both lists include three Spanish airports.
According to ACI Europe, international passenger traffic in the European airport network grew 18.7% in May compared to the same month in 2022, -3.7% lower than the same period in 2019. Meanwhile domestic traffic grew 8.8% compared to last year’s data and -5.8% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Also read: Spanish airports surpass pre-pandemic passenger numbers
Top 10 passenger numbers
London-Heathrow was again the European airport with the most traffic in May, with more than 6.7 million passengers. The top 10 also included three Spanish airports. Madrid-Barajas, in sixth place, with more than 5 million passengers. This was followed by Barcelona-El Prat, in seventh place, with nearly 4.5 million passengers, and Palma de Mallorca, in tenth place, with more than 3.4 million passengers.
The fastest growing airports
Furthermore, there are Spanish airports among the fastest-growing European airports, all with higher traffic flows than in May 2019.
Broken down by traffic group are the airports that recorded the highest growth in passenger traffic in May and all remained above 2019 levels. In group 1, airports handling more than 25 million passengers per year, Palma de Mallorca (+7.5%) is on the list. In Group 2 (airports handling between 10 and 25 million passengers) it is Málaga (+12.3%). Valencia (+19.1%) is in the top five of Group 3 (airports handling between 5 and 10 million passengers).