The National Statistics Institute (INE) has just released the record of passenger movement in national airports in the first quarter of the year. According to the data announced, the Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Porto, accounted for 22.7% of passengers handled, resulting in an increase of 49.8% compared to the same period in 2022 and 12.1% compared to 2019
The number of passengers handled, nationally, "reached a record 12.87 million in the first quarter, up 54.3% on the same period in 2022 and 15.1% above 2019". "Since the beginning of 2023, monthly passenger figures at national airports have always been higher than pre-pandemic levels. In March 2023, the average daily disembarkation of about 80 thousand passengers was recorded at national airports, a value higher than that recorded in March 2022 (59.4 thousand; +34.6%) and 15.1% above that in March 2019 (69.5 thousand)," reports INE, quoted by Porto Canal.
According to the same document, "France remained the main country of origin and destination of flights. The most notable growth, in turn, was in passengers from Spain and Italy.
In the month of March alone, "4.9 million passengers moved through national airports", 35.6% above March 2022 and 13.8% more compared to the same month in 2019.
"In March alone, 17.8 thousand aircraft landed at national airports on commercial flights, corresponding to 4.9 million passengers (boardings, landings and direct transits), which represents increases of 20.8% and 35.6%, respectively, compared to March 2022," it adds. Compared to March 2019, there was an increase of about 9% in the number of "aircraft landed" and 13.8% in passenger movement.
According to the statistics, 81.5% of passengers who landed at airports on national soil in March represented international traffic "reaching 2.0 million, mostly from the European continent (69.1% of the total), an increase of 29.7%" compared to March 2022.
Regarding embarking passengers, 80.8% represented international traffic "totaling 1.9 million, with airports on the European continent as their main destination (69.6% of the total), registering a growth of 32.5%" compared to March 2022.