QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: Which markets reign from Spain - what are the the most popular destinations for a long-haul visit by Spaniards for the first half of the year?

26 January, 2020

In our weekly series to break up those Monday morning office blues, The Blue Swan Daily tests your knowledge and insight into the aviation and travel industry. This is all just for fun. Who knows? We may occasionally find a prize somewhere around CAPA HQ. This week's question is detailed below. The answers will be revealed and winners (if there are any correct entries) announced next week alongside our next question.


Spain is a popular inbound market for travellers, but it also has a healthy outbound market, The most important non-European destination for Spaniards is not surprisingly the Americas, which attracted 53% of all intercontinental trips from Spain last year, according to new research from travel data specialists ForwardKeys. But, demand is showing signs of softening this year.

In 2019, travel was up +0.9% but looking ahead to the first half of the year, bookings are -5.7% behind where they were compared to the situation at mid-January last year, according to the company's analysis of flight bookings.

The major factor in the slow growth of 2019 and the negative outlook for the first half of 2020 is likely to be the political and economic instability being felt across several Latin American countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador, which has inhibited the flow of visitors.

The ForwardKeys intelligence also covers flight searches, a useful measure of interest in a destination because many people investigate flight options before they book.

Our QUESTION OF THE WEEK is...What are the the most popular destinations for a long-haul visit by Spaniards for the first half of the year?

JOIN IN THE FUN: Send your answers to: The Blue Swan Daily Content Team


Our previous question asked… Airport connectivity is key for corporate travellers, but what are the world's largest airports by destinations served?

When it comes to corporate travel, connectivity is one of the important parameters. We can probably all name the world's largest airports by passengers, but can we similarly name the largest airports by destinations served?

Analysis by The Blue Swan Daily of OAG schedule data shows that in 2019 it wasn't the world's biggest airports by capacity or demand that were connected to the most markets. Let's first be clear that when we define destinations linked there is no minimum service parameter, so this is not regular links, but simply that during the 2019 calendar year a flight departed to another airport.

Topping the list was Frankfurt (FRA), just ahead of Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG), with Istanbul's new hub airport (IST) completing the podium places. Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) continued the European domination in fourth, while Chicago O'Hare International (ORD) was fifth. The remainder of the top ten were Beijing Capital International (PEK) in sixth; Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) in seventh; Munich (MUC) in eighth; London Gatwick (LGW) in ninth and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL), the world's busiest by passengers, in tenth.