Record July for Barcelona-El Prat airport. In full summer activity, the facility exceeded 5.8 million passengers, representing a 6% increase compared to the same month in 2025. But it is not just a summer rebound, because since the beginning of the year the Barcelona airport has surpassed 34 million users, which represents 4.6% more than between January and July 2025. The data exceed the average growth experienced by the Aena network in Spain (4% more) and confirm that the increase in activity is continuous in the El Prat terminals, announcing that the theoretical capacity limit, set at 55 million annual travelers, will be exceeded again by the end of the year, pending the infrastructure to face the rehabilitation and expansion process it has pending.
Of the total figure of 5,862,148 travelers recorded in July, more than 4.5 million traveled on international flights, which represents a 7.6% increase compared to the same month in 2025. In domestic flights, the increase in activity is smaller: 1.3 million, which represents 0.6% more than in July last year. One of the arguments Aena uses to defend the need to expand the Josep Tarradellas airport facilities has to do with the commitment to strengthen long-haul international connections from Barcelona.
The Barcelona Air Routes Development Committee (CDRA), made up of the Generalitat, the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, and Aena, recently highlighted that El Prat has optimized its connectivity with the Asian continent, with direct connections to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul, but still detects a high development potential. In this regard, CDRA studies estimate that there is still a potential demand exceeding 1.8 million annual passengers between Barcelona and different Asian markets that currently do not have direct connections.
However, the expansion of El Prat does not avoid strong controversy over the environmental impact it entails, including an effect on the Ricarda lagoon due to the works to extend the sea runway, which is used for takeoff maneuvers.
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So far this year, of the total passengers, 25.8 million have flown on connections with abroad, which represents an increase of 5.7% compared to the same period last year. These are, in most cases, flights originating or destined for countries on the European continent, so the Catalan airport has as a major pending challenge to gain long-haul international traffic.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport remained the main facility in the network by passenger volume in July, with almost 6.5 million passengers (6% more). After Barcelona comes Palma de Mallorca, with 4.7 million (2.2% more). The highest growths occurred in Alicante and Valencia, with rates of 11% in each case.
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