Low-cost air carriers transported more than 31.4 million passengers in Spain for the period January-August 2017, according to the official data of the General Department of Tourism Studies. The figures are 14.4% more that the same period in 2016.
The volume of international traffic of conventional airlines for the same time was 28.5 million people, and this figure represents an increase of 3.9% yoy. The top three air carriers among the low-costers are Ryanair, Easyjet and Vueling, with the number of customers continuing to grow steadily.
More then 80% of international flights, which is carried out by budget companies, is directed to the EU countries and the annual increase reached 8.8%. The main areas where low-costers work are the UK (37.2%), Italy (11.5%), Germany (11.3%), France (8.1%) and the Netherlands (6.3%), followed by Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark and the Scandinavian countries.
The largest number of foreigners using the services of low cost airlines arrived in Barcelona El Prat Airport – 7.5 million people, which is 24% of the total number of passengers. Also among the leading destinations for foreigners are Malaga (12%), Palma (11.7%), Alicante (11.1%) and Madrid (10.9%).
All largest airports in Spain showed a significant increase in the number of passengers – in the vast majority of tourists, and the maximum (27.3% yoy) increase took place on the island of Gran Canaria.
