El Prat de Llobregat (CNA).- The El Prat Barcelona airport ended the month of February having served 2,672,365 passengers, a 20.4% increase compared to the same period the previous year. The airport also registered a growth of 13.3% in the number of operations that took place, with 19,800 take-offs and landings. These increases are in part thanks to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which in 2016 was pushed forward by a week compared to 2015, when it took place during the first week of March. Consequently, the largest growth in the second month of 2016 was represented by international passengers, with a 22% rise. The number of domestic passengers also increased, showing a rise of 16.9%. In terms of the year so far, the Catalan airport has welcomed around 5.2 million passengers, an increase of 17.4%, and carried out 39,175 operations, which represents a 9.4% growth in annual terms.
As regards international routes, the highest increases in passenger numbers were seen on flights to Latin America, with an increment of 31.5%, followed by the Middle East (with 31.4%) and North America (with 20.7%). The amount of cargo transported also rose. Last month more than 10,351 tons were moved, which represents an 18.3% boost compared with the same period in 2015.
Cargo with domestic origin or destination has increased the most (by 32.3%), followed by international cargo, which has grown by 17.6%.
In the first months of the year, the El Prat Barcelona airport also processed 19,625 tons of merchandise, which represents an increase of 18.6% from the previous year.