Aena, Spain’s airport operator, reported that Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat handled 5,871,137 passengers in July 2026, a 6% increase on July 2025 and the airport’s highest total for that month. For passengers, airlines and airport businesses, the figures confirm another busy summer at El Prat, with 35,886 aircraft movements during the month, up 6.6% year on year.

From January to July, the airport recorded 34,242,752 passengers, 4.6% more than in the same seven months of 2025. International travel accounted for most of the growth, with 25,875,282 passengers, up 5.7%, while domestic traffic rose 1.6% to 8,314,197.

International flights drove July growth

Commercial passengers totalled 5,862,148 in July. International routes carried 4,531,980 travellers, a 7.6% increase on the previous July, while domestic routes carried 1,330,168, up 0.6%.

  • Aircraft movements: 35,886 in July, up 6.6%; 215,228 from January to July, up 3.6%.
  • Air freight: 20,435 tonnes in July, up 8.1%; 125,309 tonnes in the first seven months, up 11.6%.
  • Commercial passengers from January to July: 34,189,479, up 4.7%.

The other Catalan airports managed by Aena also increased activity in July. Girona-Costa Brava handled 320,926 passengers, Reus recorded 235,986, and Sabadell, which mainly serves general aviation, registered 7,508 operations.

New Plan Director is due to set expansion timetable

The sustained rise in traffic coincides with Aena’s preparation of a new Plan Director, the document intended to define the airport’s future development and environmental measures. Aena said the plan follows an agreement reached in June between the Ministry of Transport, the Generalitat, Catalonia’s regional government, and the airport operator.

“The objective is for the expansion of El Prat to be an exemplary project, not only because of the scale of investment, but because of its environmental ambition and its capacity to place Barcelona on the map of major intercontinental hubs.”Maurici Lucena, Aena chairman and chief executive

According to Aena’s announcement on the Plan Director, the contract to prepare it has a starting value of €4.45 million. The operator expects the necessary studies to begin in the second quarter of 2026, with final approval forecast for the end of 2029 after the required environmental process.

Aena said the wider expansion project would involve investment of more than €3.2 billion. The Plan Director process is the formal route through which the airport’s future works and environmental measures are to be defined.

Primary sources: aena.es, cmcarbon. Reported by Leandre Ibar Penaba, Cristina Hidalgo, efe.com, elpais.com, europapress.es, diariodigital.es, Cristina Buesa, larazon.es, ARA, El Periódico (CA), Josep Maria Casas, elperiodico.com.