A record year for Palma airport. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

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Palma airport set a new passenger record of almost 33.3 million passengers in 2024, 7% more than in 2023 making it the busiest year in its history. Of the total number of commercial passengers, just over nine million flew on domestic connections - a 5% increase - while the biggest increase was in international flights - 7.8% - with 24.2 million passengers, according to a statement by airport authority AENA.

In terms of operations, more than 243,000 flights were carried out, 6.2% more than in 2023. This figure implies an all-time record in the number of aircraft movements. In the month of December, the airport handled 1.1 million passengers, 4.2% more than in the same month of 2023. In December, the airport handled nearly 9,600 flights, a growth of 2.8%. Of the total number of passengers who travelled through the airport in December, more than 656,000 were domestic (up 1.1%), while more than 426,000 (up 9.4%) flew to or from overseas.

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The airports of the Aena Group, in addition to London-Luton Airport and 17 airports in Brazil, closed 2024 with more than 369.4 million passengers, 8.5% more than in 2023. In that period they handled 3.2 million aircraft movements, 7.1% more than in 2023, and transported 1.4 million tonnes of cargo, 18.1% more than last year.

However, despite the spike in passenger numbers, in 2024, Palma and Ibiza airports were hit by the highest rate of delays and cancellations in Spain, according to AirHelp’s annual travel punctuality report. Of the almost 16 million passengers who flew from Palma, more than 5.5 million suffered delays or cancellations, which means that 35% of passengers had incidents on their flight.

In the case of Ibiza airport, it is the airport with the second highest rate of incidents during 2024, with 31% of passengers affected by disruptions this year. Nationally, Spain is the country with the most departures recorded, with one million flights, and with the most passenger movements, approximately 145 million, during 2024. Although air activity has remained more or less stable compared to 2023, when just 80,000 flights and eight million fewer passengers were recorded, the punctuality of Spanish runways has worsened by 2%.