Air passenger traffic in Portugal maintained its growth trend in August, but below the pre-epidemic period. During the strong month of the Portuguese holiday, there was a movement of 3.9 million passengers and 16,100 tons of cargo and mail at national airports.
According to a report released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Tuesday, movements represent an increase of 76.3% (passenger) and 55.3% (freight) compared to August 2020. However, compared to August 2019, the number of passengers in motion has decreased by 39.9% and the movement of goods and mail has decreased by 5.2%.
For the full year, between January and August 2021, there was a 9.2% decrease in the number of passengers handled at national airports compared to the same period of the previous year. The reduction is 70.1% compared to the same period in 2019. Between January and August 2021, with a significantly lower number of passengers by the United Kingdom and Germany, France was the primary origin and destination for aircraft.
In August 2021, 17.4 thousand aircraft landed at national airports on commercial flights, 3.9 million passengers (boarding, landing and direct transport) and 16.1 thousand tons of cargo and mail movement (39.9%, 76.3% and 55.3 compared to August 2020 respectively).
“This month, the number of landing planes and passengers has been very high since the beginning of the Govt-19 epidemic crisis. Compared to August 2019, the number of landing planes varied by -39.9%. , -55.8% and -10.3% in the same order compared to the same month in July 2021) “, the INE report adds.