The number of passengers handled at national airports grew by 500.3 percent in the first four months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021.

“In the first four months of 2022, the number of passengers increased by 500.3 percent (-19.4 percent compared to the same period in 2019), continuing the trend towards the levels recorded in the pre-pandemic period”, advances the National Institute in the 'Rapid Air Transport Statistics' for April this year.

Up until April, Lisbon airport handled 51.8 percent of total passengers (6.9 million) and registered a growth of 526.2 percent compared to the same period in 2021 (-23.0 percent compared to the same period in 2019).

Considering the three airports with the highest annual passenger traffic, Faro recorded the biggest increase (+1,566.9 percent).

French passengers

Between January and April 2022, France remained the main country of origin and destination of flights, with growth of 445.8 percent in the number of passengers disembarked and 371.8 percent in the number of passengers embarked, compared to the same period of 2021.

The United Kingdom occupied the second position and Spain is in third.

Considering only the month of April 2022, 18,600 aircraft on commercial flights landed at national airports, corresponding to 4.9 million passengers (embarkation, disembarkation and direct transit) and 18,300 tonnes of cargo and mail were handled.

In April 2022, there was an average daily arrival of 83,800 passengers at national airports (59.4 thousand in the previous month), approaching the observed level in April 2019 (89.6 thousand).

Considering passengers disembarked in April, 81.5 percent corresponded to international traffic (62.3 percent in the same month of 2021), mostly from the European continent (70.6 percent of the total).

Regarding embarked passengers, 80.6 percent corresponded to international traffic (59.8 percent in April 2021), with the main destination being airports on the European continent (70.6 percent of the total).