Some Spanish Destinations Will See More Flights Than Before The Pandemic This Summer

Simple Flying

By Luke Bodell

Published May 20, 2022

The country will return to 93% of its pre-pandemic flight levels this summer.

Photo: Iberia

Flights to Spain this summer are expected to almost equal pre-pandemic levels, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Data suggests that flights to Spain will reach 93% of 2019 levels over the summer, with several destinations scheduled to welcome even more flights than before.

Travelers flock to Spain this summer

The Spanish tourism industry is set to rebound this summer as airlines and travelers return to the country. Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium projects that inbound flights to Spain between June and August are expected to reach 93% of 2019's figure.

There are 261,411 inbound flights to Spanish airports scheduled between June and August this year, falling just short of the 279,597 flights in the same period in 2019.

Photo: Getty Images

Airlines will offer around 44,832,000 seats this summer compared to the 46,993,000 seats available in 2019. The largest carrier this summer will be Ryanair, followed by Vueling and Iberia.

Lanzarote, Menorca and Tenerife lead the recovery

Several Spanish airports are on track to exceed their 2019 performance. Cirium lists Palma de Mallorca (PMI), Tenerife-South (TFS), Valencia (VLC), Ibiza (IBZ), Lanzarote (ACE), Fuerteventura (FUE) and Menorca (MAH) as those welcoming even more flights than pre-pandemic levels this summer.

The most significant increase will be at Lanzarote, which will see a 13.01% increase in flight. Lanzarote is closely followed by Menorca (12.02%) and Tenerife-South (7.00%).

Spain's two largest airports - Madrid (MAD) and Barcelona (BCN) - are the slowest to recover, lagging behind 2019 levels by 18.09% and 14.85%, respectively. Madrid will handle 43,306 inbound flights this summer, down from 52,867 in 2019.

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Latest on Spain's travel requirements

Interestingly, Spain is one of the few European nations that has yet to drop its mask requirement on flights, but this hasn't deterred airlines. While Spain removed its requirement on indoor masks, including in airports, you still need to wear a mask on public transport.

Spain and Germany are the last EU nations standing regarding mandatory masks on flights. Photo: Getty Images

Spain's Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, said,

"In our regulations, it is not compulsory to wear a mask either on platforms or at airports, but it is on public transport and also on flights."

Spain's Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto, also recently announced that the country will allow unvaccinated non-EU nationals to enter. Unvaccinated travelers will now be permitted entry with a negative COVID test result.

Maroto said,

"It will only be a matter of days before we are going to eliminate a restriction that could be discouraging tourists from outside the European Union from visiting us. We are going to stop requiring a vaccination certificate from all travelers to allow them to enter with a negative coronavirus test."

Do you have any trips to Spain coming up this summer? Will the onboard mask requirement put you off traveling? Let us know in the comments.