Air transportation in Spain - statistics & facts
The inauguration of the first airmail airline in Spain in 1919 marked the birth of commercial air transport in the country. On September 1, 1919, the airmail route carrying the French local newspaper "La Depèchê" between Toulouse and Casablanca was inaugurated, with technical stopovers in Barcelona, Alicante, and Málaga. This first operation, carried out by the French company Société des Lignes Latécoère, was also the beginning of the regulation of air transport in Spain, as a Royal Order of August 29 that same year authorized stopovers in the country. With high investments in airport infrastructure and a well developed tourism sector, the Spanish aviation industry has evolved in becoming the second largest air passenger market in Europe, generating nearly 13 billion euros in turnover in 2019.
