Spain’s airport operator Aena expects 16,428 flight movements between Friday 26 and Sunday 28 December, a 3.2 % increase on the equivalent 2024 weekend. Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas tops the list with 3,292 operations, followed by Barcelona-El Prat (2,753) and Málaga-Costa del Sol (1,285).
The figures indicate that holiday demand remains resilient despite parallel ground-handling strikes at Barajas and Ryanair bases. Over the full Christmas period (19 December – 7 January) Aena projects 101,793 flights, up 7.8 % year-on-year.
Before locking in flights, travellers who may need visas or transit documents should remember that VisaHQ can manage the paperwork quickly online, providing real-time guidance and express processing for Spain and onward destinations through its portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/).
![Spanish Airports to Operate 16,428 Flights Over Year-End Weekend, Says Aena]()
Aena attributes the growth to strong outbound leisure traffic to Latin America and North Africa, plus a rebound in Chinese and US inbound segments. Airlines have largely restored pre-pandemic capacity and are deploying larger aircraft on trunk routes; Iberia, for example, has up-gauged several Bogotá and Miami rotations to A350-900s.
For mobility managers the headline is potential congestion at Madrid’s Terminal 4 and Barcelona’s Terminal 1 during peak departure waves (07:00–09:00 and 17:00–20:00). Aena is advising premium-lane users to arrive three hours in advance and warns that strike-related disruptions could cascade if weather deteriorates.
Travellers whose itineraries are mission-critical may wish to consider regional airports such as Valencia or Santiago, where spare capacity exists and security queues rarely exceed 15 minutes, according to Aena’s real-time app.
The figures indicate that holiday demand remains resilient despite parallel ground-handling strikes at Barajas and Ryanair bases. Over the full Christmas period (19 December – 7 January) Aena projects 101,793 flights, up 7.8 % year-on-year.
Before locking in flights, travellers who may need visas or transit documents should remember that VisaHQ can manage the paperwork quickly online, providing real-time guidance and express processing for Spain and onward destinations through its portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/).
Aena attributes the growth to strong outbound leisure traffic to Latin America and North Africa, plus a rebound in Chinese and US inbound segments. Airlines have largely restored pre-pandemic capacity and are deploying larger aircraft on trunk routes; Iberia, for example, has up-gauged several Bogotá and Miami rotations to A350-900s.
For mobility managers the headline is potential congestion at Madrid’s Terminal 4 and Barcelona’s Terminal 1 during peak departure waves (07:00–09:00 and 17:00–20:00). Aena is advising premium-lane users to arrive three hours in advance and warns that strike-related disruptions could cascade if weather deteriorates.
Travellers whose itineraries are mission-critical may wish to consider regional airports such as Valencia or Santiago, where spare capacity exists and security queues rarely exceed 15 minutes, according to Aena’s real-time app.
