According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), after analysing the 1st quarter of 2023, the number of passengers increased by 54.3% compared to the same quarter of 2022, while compared to the 1st quarter of 2019, there was an increase of 15.1%.

Since the beginning of 2023, monthly passenger numbers at national airports have always been higher than pre-pandemic levels. In March 2023, there was an average daily disembarkation of around 80 thousand passengers at national airports, a value higher than that registered in March 2022 (59.4 thousand; +34.6%) and 15.1% above the verified in March 2019 (69.5 thousand).


French market


France remained the main origin and destination country for international passenger flights, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain. In the 1st quarter of 2023, Spain and Italy recorded the highest increases compared to the 1st quarter of 2022: +84.9% and +84.7%, respectively, in disembarked passengers; +87.5% and +86.2%, in the same order, in boarded passengers.

In March 2023, 81.5% of passengers disembarking at national airports corresponded to international traffic, reaching two million passengers, mostly from the European continent (69.1% of the total), corresponding to an increase of 29.7% compared to March 2022. The American continent was the second main origin, concentrating 8% of the total number of disembarked passengers.

Lisbon airport handled 55.3% of total passengers (7.1 million), having grown by 57.6% when compared to the 1st quarter of 2022 (+13.9% compared to the same period of 2019). Porto airport concentrated 22.7% of total passengers handled and increased by 49.8% (+12.1% compared to the 1st quarter of 2019). Faro airport registered a growth of 45.7% (+9.5% compared to the 1st quarter of 2019).