Ibiza’s August Air Passengers Down For First Time Since 2004

Figures released by Spanish Airport operator AENA have shown Ibiza’s August passenger numbers to be down year on year for the first time since 2004.

Editor’s Note, what you need to know about Air Traffic statistics:

Though air transit figures are among the most widely used and publicised, it is very important to take into account two very important affecting factors.

1. The numbers refer to throughput, i.e. every person who goes through the airport as an arrival and/or a departure. As the vast majority of summer passengers are tourists, it is fair to assume that any percentage change in figures is actually double the effective change – to put it simply, if more people arrive, an equal; number of people must leave, and if less people arrive, less people will inevitably leave. When considering summer figures you can effectively halve the percentages quoted.
2. Air traffic numbers are fundamentally flawed in one respect – that they make no account for the duration of the stay of the traveller. In the last ten years, the average number of nights holiday has decreased by 3 nights. So if 1 million people are shown on stats, that actually equals 500,000 travellers. Multiply that by 3 nights and it is a difference of 1.5 million room nights. As the average duration of stay decreases, the number of passengers has to substantially increase just to maintain parity.

So with those two caveats, onto the figures.

August 2018

In August 2018 1,366,572 people arrived and departed Ibiza Airport. This represents a 3.2% drop on August 2017, and is the first time numbers have dropped year on year since records began in their current format in 2004.

By markets Spanish had most passengers in August, 438,156, followed by the United Kingdom with 382,412 and Italy in third with their traditional influx during the main Italian shutdown period accounting for 206,514 passengers.

The number of flights actually reduced more than the number of passengers. In August 2018 there were 12,470 take offs and landings, 5.6% less than in August 2017.

Year to End of August 2018

Despite the August drop, the number of passengers for the total year to date had actually increased to the end of August. From January to August 5,823,414 passengers went through Ibiza airport, 2.4% more than during the same period of 2017.

Of this total, 2,288,046 used domestic flights and 3,519,823 international flights, which represents an increase of 9.8% in the first case and a fall in traffic of 1.9% in the second.

Ibiza Air Passenger Throughput 2004 to 2018*

The Figure for 2018 is an estimation based on the 2.1% overall increase to the end of August.

Figures are provided by AENA