Spanish Airports Saw 166 Million Passengers in 2004; Iberia Cut 26.7 Percent of the Pie

A grand total of 165.9 million passengers used Spain´s 45 international airports all through 2004, up 7.9 percent from 2003, Spanish Airports & Air Navigation (AENA is the Spanish acronym) reported over the weekend.

Iberia took in 26.7 million travelers out of that total for a 4.2 increment from the previous year. The company´s great outcomes stemmed mostly from the good going of mid-range and long-haul flights, sources close to Iberia´s front office told Caribbean News Digital.

With the sole exception of the airports in Tenerife Sur, Fuerteventura, Menorca, Almeria, Salamanca, Vitoria and Zaragoza, the rest of the Spanish terminals put bigger numbers on the board than the year before.

The Madrid-Barajas Airport led the pack with 38.5 million airborne passengers, up 7.5 percent from 2003. The Barcelona-El Prat Airport was the runner-up with 24.5 million travelers (a 7.9 percent increase), followed by the air terminal in Palma de Mallorca that snared 6.4 percent more fliers (20.4 million).

Iberia´s best routes in 2004 were Africa and the Middle East, two regions where the number of passengers jumped a whopping 41.3 percent, thanks in part to the addition of more flights for those connections.

As a matter of fact, the transatlantic market bore the brunt of Iberia´s global occupancy rates throughout 2004 by soaring one percentage point to finish at 81.6 percent.