Lanzarote and Menorca are showing Spain’s strongest level of international flight recovery from the pandemic this summer despite the country rolling over Covid entry rules.
All international visitors remain subject to Spain’s Covid rules until June 15, after its interior ministry announced an extension of restrictions which were initially due to be lifted on May 15.
The extension means unvaccinated travellers aged 18 and over can still only enter Spain by showing proof of recovery from Covid within the six months prior to travel.
However, new data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that flights to Spain this summer are expected to reach 93% of 2019 levels.
Out of the 15 busiest Spanish airports, Madrid is the slowest to recover, with 18.09% fewer flights this summer than during the same period in pre-Covid crisis 2019.
Lanzarote has recovered the most, with 13.01% more flights this summer than during the same period in 2019, followed by Menorca with 12.02% more. Others showing increases include Tenerife South, Valencia, Fuerteventura, Ibiza and Palma.
Those projected to still be below summer 2019 levels include Barcelona, Tenerife North, Alicante, Seville, Gran Canaria, Bibao and Malaga.
Ryanair is scheduled to be the largest carrier to Spain, followed by Spanish low cost carrier Vueling and sister airline Iberia.
A total of 261,411 inbound flights to Spanish airports are scheduled between June and August, equating to around 44.8 million seats.
This compares with 279,597 inbound flights representing almost 47 million seats between June and August 2019, according to Cirium.