Barcelona airport flights over upcoming bank holiday weekend still below pre-pandemic levels
More long-distance Renfe train tickets will be available to meet increased demand
Although there will be more flights to and from the Barcelona airport over the upcoming long bank holiday weekend known as 'el Pont de la Puríssima', these will still be below levels seen in 2019.
According to AENA, the Spanish airport authority, there are 4,254 flights scheduled at Barcelona El Prat from December 3 to 9 – 21.4% below pre-pandemic figures, but 422.4% more than exactly a year earlier, when stricter travel restrictions were still in place.
From Friday to next Thursday, there will be an average of 607 flights per day, while over the same period last year there were on average fewer than 150 per day.
More Renfe trains running
Renfe, meanwhile, will increase the number of long-distance trains from Catalonia to other parts of Spain these days to meet the increased demand.
The Spanish government-owned railway company will have an additional 313,000 long-distance tickets available over the long weekend, most of which will be for the Figueres-Barcelona- Madrid high-speed line as well as trains to Andalusia and through the Valencia region to Murcia.
Renfe's Rodalies train services within Catalonia will be expanded over the long weekend, with capacity for a total of 400,000 passengers and more trains running on peak days.