Pax numbers at airports up 2.3%

Passenger numbers at Portuguese airports have risen 2.3% like-for-like on 2020 to 15.2 million to September according to Vinci which owns ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal.

However, the group revealed that passenger numbers are 66.7% down on those registered for the same period in 2019, with the greatest drop seen at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado airport, which with just 7 million passengers suffered a fall of 70% on 2019.
In comparison to 2020, Lisbon numbers fell 8.8% and Porto 2,2% yet all the other airports saw passenger numbers rise, the biggest rise being in Ponta Delgada airport in the Azores with an increase of 64.9% (1.17 million passengers).
In Faro, passenger growth was 14.5% (2 million) and Madeira (41.2%) with 1.3 million passengers.
“The number of passengers practically doubled this summer compared to last year” stresses the company but explaining that numbers “were 46% down on the summer of 2019.”
Air traffic at Porto in August was dynamic (-35%), with some routes achieving or exceeding passenger numbers in 2019 (Zurich +16%, Luxembourg +6%, Madeira (+32%).
In turn, traffic at Funchal airport (Madeira) has almost returned to 2019 levels (5% down on 2019 in August).
The company mentions that the “trend slowed in September, but the decision to open the borders to tourists from Brazil on 1 September and lessen restrictions on transatlantic traffic to and from the US should stimulate the demand for flights this winter”.