LOW-COST airline passengers entering, leaving and travelling across Spain increased in number by 4.6 per cent last year, reaching a total of 34.9 million by the end of 2013, says the national Institute of Tourism Studies (IET).
This department of the ministry of industry, energy and tourism says traditional carriers saw a fall in passenger numbers of 0.8 per cent on the previous year's figures, seeing a total for 2013 of 29.4 million, showing how travellers are more often choosing 'no frills' at cheaper prices in the current climate.
In total, budget airlines accounted for 54.2 per cent of flight traffic, compared to the 45.8 per cent of passengers flying with traditional carriers – normally national airlines such as BA, Iberia, Air France, Lufthansa, KLM, Alitalia and so on.
December 2013 was a good month for airlines with an increase of 8.7 per cent of passengers, a total of 3.9 million, of which 1.9 million used low-cost flight firms.
The UK and Germany were the most frequent users of budget airlines in 2013, with 33.2 and 19 per cent flights to and from these countries respectively being with low-cost carriers.
This was largely because the British market increased in 2013 by 5.7 per cent, reaching 11.6 million travellers, and the German market went up by 11.2 per cent to 6.6 million passengers.
Italy, the third-largest international market for Spain's airlines as a whole, showed a reduction of 11 per cent in arrivals, falling to 3.27 million passengers, or 9.4 per cent of the total number of travellers who flew into Spain last year.
France, the fourth-largest foreign market, saw an increase of 3.5 per cent of passengers in 2013, with a total of 2.4 million flyers accounting for 6.9 per cent of the total number of arrivals in Spain.
The Netherlands, the fifth-largest international market at 5.6 per cent of the total, showed a reduction of 0.2 per cent, down to 1.8 million passengers.
Norwegians were the international travellers who increased most in number in 2013 with a rise of 32.1 per cent, reaching 876,138 passengers.
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