MADRID, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of people travelling through the Spanish airports in 2018 rose 5.8 percent year on year from a year ago, with a total of 263.7 million passengers using them, according to figures released by Spain's state-run airport management company "Aena" on Monday.
Anea data revealed that of those 263.7 million travelers, 182.5 million made international flights, up 4.1 percent year on year, while 80.4 million made internal flights, an increase of 10 percent from a year earlier.
Madrid's Aldolfo Suarez-Barajas airport saw the most passengers with 57.9 million people passing through Madrid (up 8.4 percent from 2017), while there was a 6.1 percent rise in traffic to 50.1 million passengers at Barcelona's El Prat airport .
Meanwhile, 29 million people used the airport at Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands) which is an important tourist destination.
Other Spanish airports to see over 10 million passengers are in important tourist destinations such as Malaga (19 million), Alicante (almost 14 million) and Gran Canaria (13.5 million) and Tenerife Sur (almost 11 million).
Last year saw a total of 2,300,189 flights either land or take off from Aena run properties, up 5.8 percent from 2017, with 409,832 flights using Adolfo Suarez-Barajas and 335,651 either arriving or departing from El Prat.
The increase in passengers was accompanied by a total of 1,010 tons of freight travelling through Spanish airports a 9.9 percent rise on 2017.
