Madrid Airport. Photo: Alekk Pires / Shutterstock.com Aena's airports continued their growth trend in May, handling more than 36.1 million passengers across its network in Spain, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
The airport operator reported that 36,116,528 passengers traveled through its airports during the month, representing an increase of 4.7% compared with May 2025. Aircraft movements rose by 4% to 309,102, while cargo volumes climbed 3.2% to nearly 131,000 tonnes.
The strongest contribution came from Aena's Spanish airports, which welcomed 30.7 million passengers during the month, a year on year increase of 5%. Madrid Barajas remained the busiest airport in the network, handling just over six million passengers, followed by Barcelona El Prat with 5.5 million travelers.
Several Spanish airports posted particularly strong growth. Alicante Airport recorded an increase of 11.9%, while Valencia Airport saw passenger traffic rise by 11.8%. Málaga and Ibiza also reported healthy gains as the summer travel season gathered momentum.
Between January and May, Aena's entire network served more than 150.8 million passengers, up 4% compared with the same period last year. The company said traffic growth during the first months of 2026 was influenced by increased airline capacity and temporary shifts in travel demand following disruptions to rail services earlier in the year.
Outside Spain, Aena's Brazilian airports handled 3.69 million passengers in May. While growth was more modest at 1%, airports such as São Paulo Congonhas continued to perform strongly, accounting for more than two million travelers.
London Luton Airport recorded the fastest passenger growth among Aena's major operations. The airport welcomed 1.73 million passengers in May, an increase of 8.2% compared with the same month in 2025.
Cargo performance also remained positive across the group, led by Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza. However, cargo volumes at London Luton continued to decline due to overnight runway closures linked to resurfacing works.
Overall, Aena said its airports remain on track for another strong year despite noting that some recent traffic growth has been influenced by temporary factors rather than long term structural changes in travel demand.
Aena. Photo: RVillalon / Shutterstock