Seville Airport will exceed ten million passengers this year, its maximum capacity set by Aena. The airport director claims it is still at 50% of its real capacity.
Seville Airport will exceed ten million passengers this year, the maximum capacity set by Aena since the terminal expansion works in 2022. This was acknowledged on Tuesday by the airport director, Miguel Palomares, in his first appearance before the media since taking office last July, as reported by abc.es.
The figure contrasts with the forecasts of the Airport Regulation Document II (DORA II), which estimated that by 2025 the airport would barely exceed seven million users for the period 2021-2026. At the end of last year, two million more than estimated were recorded. Despite this, Palomares maintains that San Pablo still has a "great capacity for growth" and that an expansion is not necessary.
"It doesn't make much sense to limit ourselves to 10 million or 9 million or 7 million; it makes sense to work with the number of passengers you can manage in an hour"
The director justifies the change in criteria by stating that the correct measure of capacity is by passengers per hour, not by the total annual figure. With this premise, the airport currently manages around 28,000 passengers per hour and could accommodate up to 60,000. "If we consider the number of hours we are open and look at that capacity, we are talking about being around 50%," he reiterated.
Seville Airport will have a budget of 235 million euros for the period 2027-2031, recently approved in DORA III. This figure is far from the investments allocated to other facilities such as Alicante (868 million), Málaga (830 million) or Valencia (400 million). The package will focus on internal adjustment actions, including increasing security filter lines.
Among the highlighted investments, Palomares detailed that the expansion of the VIP lounge has already been tendered for three million euros, a measure responding to the growing number of high-income travellers who "demand more specialised services". The current cargo area will also be removed and relocated to a more distant area, freeing up space on the platform for more based aircraft. Additionally, a new solar panel area will be installed, capable of generating energy equivalent to the consumption of 1,600 homes.
Regarding the rail connection with Santa Justa, whose informative study is currently in external consultations, Palomares stated that, although the responsibility lies with the Ministry and not Aena, the entity is "available to any organisation that wants to connect with the airport". When asked if the passenger data justifies this connection, he replied that they do not have that information, which pertains to mobility.
As for long-haul flights, the director does not see an imminent need for a connection with Asia, as Istanbul and Frankfurt serve as a bridge. Regarding the route to North America, he stated that "it will come sooner or later", although he emphasised that "it is up to the airlines". Seville is the only major capital in southern Europe without a direct flight to New York.
The Seville airport reflects an accumulated increase of around one million passengers per year, except during the pandemic. The planned actions will be executed according to the needs detected in the various airport subsystems.
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