In line with the general recovery from the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, AENA saw  total passenger traffic across its airports in Spain, Northeast Brazil and United Kingdom (London Luton) increase by 52.7% year-on-year to 136.3 million, implying a recovery of 44.4% of its traffic in 2019.

While London Luton saw a 16.2% decline in passenger traffic year-on-year in 2021, AENA’s airports in Brazil saw a year-on-year increase in passenger traffic by 52.2%. At the airports in Spain which made up the bulk of AENA’s total passenger traffic, traffic increased by 57.7% to reach 120 million passengers, which was equivalent to 43.6% of the 2019 traffic. A further confirmation of the recovery was displayed when AENA posted a year-on-year increase in its passenger traffic for Q1 2022 of 280.1% to 43.4 million. This also implies a recovery of 71.9% of the traffic in 2019. In Q1 2022, the year-on-year increase in passenger traffic was 359.7% , 508.3% and 26.1% for AENA’s airports in Spain, United Kingdom (London Luton), and Northeast Brazil respectively.

The recovery for AENA was also reflected in its 2021 financial performance. In 2021, AENA’s total revenue was EUR2.39bn, a 6.7% increase compared to its revenue in 2020. This increase in revenue was largely driven by a 35.1% increase in revenue from aeronautical activities to EUR1.33bn.

However, revenues from commercial activity in 2021 saw a 23.6% decline year-on-year to EUR799.2mn, largely due to the reduction in minimum annual guarantees (MAG) and fixed rent from the concessionaires which amounted to EUR795mn.