The number of passengers at airports increased by 269.1% in the first half – Transportation

Passengers at Portuguese airports increased by 269.1% between January and July 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported Thursday. More people arrived from the UK, more flights left for this country too, and Lisbon was also the airport with the highest traffic (49.3% of the total 15.1 million passengers).

“The United Kingdom was the main country of origin and destination for flights in the first half, with a growth of 589.2% in the number of passengers disembarked and 675.4% in the number of passengers carried, compared to 2021,” the National Institute of Statistics notes. Adding that this development is justified by the closure of the air corridor between Portugal and the United Kingdom for most of the period under review in 2021.

France ranks second in the list of countries of origin and destination for flights with passengers at national airports, and in third place is Spain.

In July this year, 6.2 million passengers and 19,800 tons of cargo and mail were handled at national airports. The data indicates an increase of 122.5% and 20%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. When compared to July 2019, before the start of the covid-19 pandemic, passenger traffic decreased by 1.5% and freight and mail traffic increased by 7.6%, the National Institute of Statistics highlights.

In the mentioned month, an average of 104.3 thousand passengers per day disembarked at national airports (95.9 thousand in the previous month), “close to the value recorded in July 2019 (105.5 thousand)”.

The number of aircraft on commercial flights that landed at national airports was 22,800, an increase of 46.6% over July of the previous year.

Of the total number of passengers that landed in Portugal in July, 81.1% were in line with international traffic, with the majority coming from the European continent. The institute also stresses that “in terms of passengers on board, 79.5% represent international traffic, and the main destination is airports on the European continent.”