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26-09-2024

Analysis of air travel data for Spanish destinations during July and August

Analysis of air travel data for Spanish destinations during July and August

  • The number of flights to Spanish destinations has grown by 7.6% this summer.
  • International tourism fuels growth in the UK and German markets.
  • The most popular destinations were Madrid, Barcelona and the island of Mallorca.

Below is an analysis of the key passenger data for national and international passengers visiting Spanish provinces during the summer period, July and August. The data includes online searches for flights, tickets issued[1], seats available in airlines and a provisional traffic estimate that includes passengers in transit. Source of the data: ForwardKeys.

If you wish to expand on this information, you can consult the monthly Air Transport reports that we prepare for 23 Spanish destinations, as well as review the definition of terms in  Reports and analysis of air transport in Spain - Dataestur.

Main indicators: a summer with more intense air traffic

Travel to Spain has seen a positive development this summer, according to the indicators discussed below.

Flight offers

Starting with an analysis of the supply, the air capacity data provided by ForwardKeys reflects how airlines are committed to growth, which is why the capacity offered has stood at 35 million seats for Spanish destinations, 7.6% more when compared to the summer period of 2023. This upward trend has continued every day of the summer, as can be seen in the Daily changes and trends in capacity.

Flight sales

The airline sales data (bookings) confirm this upward trend. Although this is a partial representation of the market, sales have increased by +9.7% compared to the summer of the previous year, registering a greater increase in the month of August (+11%) than in the month of July (+8.6%). Considering the data associated with advance bookings and length of stay, both remain at similar levels when compared with last summer, with slight variations according to whether the flight is national or international, as shown in the chart "Advance bookings and average length of stay".

Air traffic

Continuing with the analysis of indicators, the provisional estimate on air traffic from ForwardKeys confirms the improvement compared to the previous summer[2]. According to its estimates, 30.3 million passengers have flown to Spanish destinations, with a 1.3% growth when compared to the summer period in 2023. The sustained positive growth of July stands out, with 16 million passengers (+7.3%), while the month of August slightly decreased by 14.3 million (-6.8%). It should be noted that this is a provisional estimate[3] and could be revised upwards taking into account the data published by AENA. In this regard, AENA's air traffic statistics, which include one-way and return flights, indicate that around 64 million passengers flew between July and August from and into Spanish airports, with a 7.5% growth when compared to the previous year Excluding the return flight, this figure would mean around 31.8 million passengers for the summer period.

Searches

There has been a slight decrease in the number of searches this summer (-3%), according to the ForwardKeys indicator of the main flight search engines. This decline is slightly greater for searches in July (-4.25%). Nevertheless, there were searches for 398 million flights to Spanish regions, the months of July and August being the ones with the most searches 2024.

Below are some charts that visualise these trends.

International origin boosts air traffic

In general terms and according to the available data, there are signs of a possible slowdown in the number of domestic flights. On the contrary, international origin has been the driving force behind the positive evolution of flights this summer.

Domestic market

The national market accounts for 31.1% of the total number of seats offered this summer, with a growth of 3% in the number of seats when compared to the previous summer. Bookings have also improved (+7.3%), while flight search data for this period and estimated traffic would point to a decline of -17.6% and -9.2% respectively. However, according to AENA's latest information for this period, there is a 3% growth in the national market, with a total of 9.5 million passengers.

International market

International markets have seen much growth in all indicators. The flights coming from international destinations stood at 68.9% with a growth of 9.9% when compared to the previous summer period, with the same trends in terms of flight searches (+0.7%), passenger traffic (6.2%) or ticket sales (+10.1%). According to AENA, around 22.2 million passengers have flown to Spain from abroad this summer, representing a 9.2% increase when compared to the same period last year.

What have been the main source and destination markets?

Below is the TOP 20 source markets that represent 90% of Spanish air capacity for the summer of 2024. The national origin, which accounts for around 31% of traffic, leads this ranking, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. Out of the five countries with the highest growth, Italy or France stand out as the ones growing at a faster pace, although the highest growth figures are found in the USA, the Czech Republic or Poland.

Below are the heat maps with the traffic distribution of the 4 main markets: Spanish, British, German and Italian.

Passenger traffic by destination for July and August 2024

TOP Summer Destinations 2024

A year on, this summer's main destinations according to traffic, capacity, search and booking data are traditional high-demand destinations. In descending order, these are Madrid, Barcelona and the island of Mallorca.

The most sought-after destinations for summer 2024 have been Barcelona, Madrid, the island of Mallorca and Malaga. We have seen a moderate growth in the number of searches, with a focus on the island of Mallorca, Madrid and Alicante. It is interesting to note that Barcelona occupies the first position as a sought-after destination, even though it had less traffic and capacity than Madrid.

The main seats offered for summer trips are for Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca and Malaga. It is worth noting that a vast majority of destinations have seen a growth of over 5% in the number of seats offered as compared to the previous summer period. The provisional traffic data shows that the above destinations continue to be the most popular and the destinations with fewer estimated passengers are declining at a faster pace.

Traffic and capacity behaviour is represented in the following graphs which visualise the results of the TOP 15 destinations.

Below is a heat map showing the average distance of flights arriving at destinations as an indicator of the carbon footprint, which could be further analysed in terms of the sustainability of tourism activity.

Finally, the distribution of the main source markets is presented, broken down according to the TOP 15 Destinations for the summer period of 2024, allowing the difference in markets received to be visualised according to destination.

You can find more information about air transport at  Dataestur.

[1] Partial statistics due to the fact that the volume of data available covers different web providers and may not represent 100% of the market.

[2] ForwardKeys's traffic indicator includes passengers on return trips and in transit to their destinations

[3] Provisional traffic data; this data may change.

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