AviationEnes

Çağla Yıldırım, Emre Küpe, Enes Topluoğlu, Ömer Dışpınar, Yakup Demir

As a group 1, we decided to choose Madrid and Barcelona where our airports are located. Population of Madrid is 6,714,000. This beautiful city is the capital of Spain, and it has the highest nominal Gross Domestic Product among all the cities. It worth 216,527 million of dollars in 2020. Furthermore, GDP per capita was $36,608. On the other hand, our second city is also located in Spain. Barcelona is an economic powerhouse of the Catalan region, and this city is responsible for over 50% of the workforce and GDP. The population of Barcelona is 5,658,000 and its GDP is 125,477.

Barcelona Airport

IATA Code: BCN

ICAO Code: LEBL

47,284,500 passengers used Barcelona Airport in 2017 and it represents an increase of 7.1% compared to 2016. Barcelona’s airport surpassed the yearly 50 million mark in passengers for the first time in 2018. 50,172,457 people took off or landed with a flight in Barcelona last year. This means 6.1% more than previous year. In 2019, 52.7 million passengers passed through its facilities, placing it in 6th position on the list of Europe’s busiest airports. 12,738,769 passengers used Barcelona Airport 2020 representing a sharp decrease of 76.93% compared to 2019. 18,874,896 passengers used Barcelona Airport in 2021 representing an increase of 48.17% compared to 2020.

(Fig 1 – Passengers Used BCN Airport)

Madrid Airport

IATA Code: MAD

ICAO Code: LEMD

In 2017, 53,402,506 passengers used Madrid Airport and this number increased for the next two years. 57,891,340 passengers and 61,734,037 passengers used Spain’s capital airport in 2018 and 2019 respectively. But unfortunately, in 2020 due to pandemic, this number sharply decreased to approximately 17 million people which is 44.6 million people less than 2019. After the first year of pandemic, 24,135,220 passenger used Madrid Airport in 2021 and it is 7 million passengers more compared to 2020.

(Fig 2 – Passengers Used MAD Airport)

Iberia, Vueling Airlines and Air Europe fly direct from Madrid to Barcelona. Barcelona-Madrid has been revealed as the busiest airline route in Europe.

Iberia Airline – with 120 direct flights between BCN and MAD monthly

Vueling Airline – with 150 direct flights between BCN and MAD monthly

Air Europa – with 30 direct flights between BCN and MAD monthly

There are over 200 nonstop flights between Barcelona and Madrid per week, averaging to 30 per day. A nonstop Barcelona – Madrid flight takes an average of 1 hour 25 minutes, covering a distance of 480 km. The highest volume of Barcelona to Madrid flights are offered on a Monday, with 45 different options. Saturday currently offers the fewest number of flight times with only 20 options. Airlines serving the Barcelona – Madrid route include Air Europa, Vueling, Iberia, Airline, British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Finnair, Norwegian Air, Air Algeria, Bulgaria Air, Lufthansa, KLM, and Luxair among others. There are seven airlines which fly nonstop from Barcelona to Madrid with Iberia providing the highest number of flights at this route.

Let’s continue with the route capacity of Iberia Airlines from BCN to MAD. The number of flight frequency (return flights) is 15 and types of aircrafts that has been used are Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320 and Airbus A321. On the other hand, number of seats used for the route are;

A321 (Layout 1) – 174 seats

A320 – 162 seats

A320-200 – 162 seats

Furthermore, the flying distance is 505,72 kilometers but driving route is 623.94 kilometers. Total capacities in available seat kilometer (ASK) are;

A321 = 174 x 505,72

A320 = 162 x 505,72

A320-200 = 162 x 505,7

As a conclusion, to calculate the route traffic, available seat kilometers of these aircrafts are as follows;

87,995 for A321

81,926 for A320 and A320-200

Load Factor is 80% and formula is RPK = ASK x LF

At this point, we can apply our formula;

Airbus A321= 87,995.28 x 0.8 = 70,396.224

Airbus A320= 81,926.64 x 0.8= 65,541.312

Airbus A320-200= 81,926.64 x 0.8= 65,54.312

RESOURCES

Barcelona Airport Facts & Figures. Barcelona Airport. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://barcelonaairport.com/statistics/

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, November 10). Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Su%C3%A1rez_Madrid%E2%80%93Barajas_Airport

Distance . http://www.distance.to. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from http://www.distance.to/

Seatguru. Seat Guru. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from http://www.seatguru.com/

Google. (n.d.). Google Flights. Google Travel. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.google.com/flights

How long does a flight from Madrid (MAD) to Barcelona (BCN) take?. FlightsFrom.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.flightsfrom.com/MAD-BCN

Cheap flights from Madrid to Barcelona. Skyscanner. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.skyscanner.net/routes/mad/bcn/madrid-to-barcelona

Iberia. Flights.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.flights.com/flights/barcelona-bcn-to-madrid-mad/