Portuguese airports recover some numbers but are still 79.5 per cent down

THE National Statistics Institute has reported that Portuguese airports have recorded a recovery in passenger movements, even with a year-on-year decline of 79.5 per cent in July, to 1.3 million, after 94.6 per cent in June.

According to the statistics for air transport in July, the movement of passengers at Portuguese airports recovered in that month, but it is “still far from normal”, says the INE.

The Portuguese airports registered, in the month under analysis, the movement of 1.3 million passengers (boardings, arrivals and direct transits), which represents a year-on-year drop of 79.5 per cent, after decreases of 94.6 per cent in June and 98.5 per cent in May.

In July, nine thousand aircraft landed on commercial flights at national airports, representing a decrease of 61.8 per cent compared to the same month last year, after decreases of 86 per cent in June and 92.3 per cent in May.

“Analysing the number of aircraft landed and the number of passengers disembarked daily between January and July 2020, and comparing with the same period, the impact of the covid-19 pandemic and the measures adopted at the level of airspace from the beginning of the second half of March “, points the INE.

As of July, the entity observed a “slight recovery”, although there were still reductions of more than 50 per cent in the number of landings and 70 per cent in the number of passengers disembarked.

With regard to the first half of the year, 55,100 aircraft landed at national airports on commercial flights, which corresponds to 58.4 per cent less than in the same period of the previous year.

In the same period, 11.2 million passengers were handled, a drop of 67.3 per cent.

Lisbon airport handled 55 per cent of total passengers (6.2 million) and registered a decrease of 65.2 per cent.

Faro airport was the one that showed the greatest decrease in the number of passengers handled between January and July, with a fall of 79.8 per cent, when considering the three airports with the highest passenger traffic in Portugal.

As for the volume of passengers disembarked and embarked on international flights, in the first six months of the year, France was the main country of origin and destination for these flights, followed by the United Kingdom, which recorded the largest reduction in the number of passengers disembarked and embarked ( decreases of 74.9 per cent and 73.9 per cent, respectively).

Spain and Germany remained in third and fourth place in the list of main countries of origin and destination and Switzerland replaced Brazil in the fifth position.

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Damon Mitchell

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