ENAIRE recovered 99% of flights in October compared to the record levels of 2019

The trend in air traffic puts the number of flights managed by ENAIRE throughout Spain at practically the same level as before the pandemic. ENAIRE managed over 190,000 flights (190,810) in October, which is just 0.7% below the average for the entire network for the same month in 2019, a record year for traffic before the effects of COVID took hold in 2020.

This figure means that ENAIRE, the national air navigation service provider, recovered 99% (99.3%) of flights in October compared to 2019 levels.

Domestic flights and overflights already exceed 2019 figures. In October 2022, domestic flights numbered 38,085, an increase of 1.7%. Overflights (flights that do not depart from or arrive at a Spanish airport) totalled 43,097, 5.7% more. With regard to international flights, 109,628, the recovery stood at 96.3%.

This recovery in October in the number of flights in Spain was 11 percentage points higher (11.7%) than the average recorded throughout Europe, which saw a decrease in October of 12.4% with respect to the same month in 2019.

Trend by control centre

There was a notable increase in the number of flights managed by the Seville control centre in October, 43,644 (15.4% more than in the same month in 2019), marking the seventh consecutive monthly increase.

In the Palma Control Centre, the number of consecutive monthly increases now stands at eight, with 34,702 flights managed in October, 10.8% more than in the same month in 2019.

The number of flights in the Canary Islands, 31,201, was 5.0% higher in October than in 2019.

The flights managed by the Barcelona Control Centre, 91,352, rose for the first time after COVID, 1.8% in October.

The Madrid Control Centre managed more than 100,000 flights (101,687), which means it recovered 96.6% of the traffic from 2019 during the past month.

A comparison between the flights managed by ENAIRE in October 2022 and those in the same period in 2021 reveals an increase of 28.1%.

Cumulative data for 2022

In the first ten months of the year, ENAIRE managed nearly 1.7 million flights (1,686,256), 9.0% fewer than in the same period in 2019, of which 969,051 were international (-10.9%), 350,325 were domestic (-4.6%), and 366,880 were overflights (-7.7%).

A comparison of the flights managed by ENAIRE from January to October with those for the same period in 2021 shows an increase of 77.8%.

World leader in safety

ENAIRE's priority when managing these flights is safety. Safety, efficiency and sustainability characterise ENAIRE's management.

ENAIRE and CRIDA, its research, development and innovation subsidiary, received the 2021 CANSO Global Air Safety Award at the 2022 World ATM Congress.

This award acknowledges the work done by ENAIRE and CRIDA to develop a tool to automatically monitor for loss of separation between aircraft (Automatic Safety Monitoring Tool - ASMT).

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 45 control towers receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is Europe's fourth largest air traffic manager. Since 1 January 2022, it has chaired the A6 Alliance, a coalition of air navigation providers responsible for over 80% of European air traffic, and which is seeking to modernise the air traffic management system. It is also a member of other international alliances promoting the Single European sky, such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE, as the agency appointed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to implement the U-space system in Spain, will be the provider of the Common Information Services (CIS), which are essential for administering U-space services to drones and Urban Air Mobility, in interaction with local air traffic control services, so that all types of aircraft can fly safely in the same airspace.

ENAIRE has received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator. It has also been awarded the EFQM 500 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.