Palma fifth for passenger numbers

PALMA DE MALLORCA’S airport came fifth in Spain for the highest number of passengers in January.

Despite the 614,434 passengers, this was actually a 10.1 per cent drop compared to the same month last year, according to airport authority Aena.

Barajas airport in Madrid saw the most passengers with 3.3million, although this too was a decrease in numbers, by 6.3 per cent. El Prat airport in Barcelona saw a 7.8 per cent rise in passenger numbers to 2.1million.

Gran Canaria and Tenerife-Sur also saw an increase in passengers by 2.7 per cent to 936,123 and 11.6 per cent to 801,843 respectively.

Malaga airport came sixth with 550,899 passengers, which is 6.6 per cent less, and Alicante seventh with 424,309, which is 11.9 per cent less.

Lanzarote saw a 3.3 per cent rise in passenger numbers to 411,537. Santander airport saw the biggest increase in passengers by 23.1 per cent to 69,735.

Nationally, Aena registered 11.76million passengers in January, which is 2.9 per cent less that the same month last year. This may be due to fewer flights.

There were 138,444 flights, which is 6.2 per cent less.

By Nicole Hallett