In September there were 6.7 million passengers at all national airports, which corresponds to increases of 13.5% compared to the same month in 2022 and 12.3% compared to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic according to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) and reported by ECO.

These numbers contributed to the record 52.16 million passengers passing through national airports in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 21.8% compared to the same period in 2022 and 11.7% compared to the pre-pandemic period.

UK passengers

Between January and September, the United Kingdom was the main country of origin and destination for flights, recording a growth of 18.5% in the number of passengers disembarked and 18.8% in the number of passengers embarked compared to the first nine months of the year last year. The second position in the volume of passengers disembarked and boarded is occupied by France, followed by Spain, which had the most significant increases in passengers disembarked (+37.9%) and boarded (+37.0%).

The ninth month of 2023 recorded an average daily arrival of 110.9 thousand passengers, a figure that is 14.1% higher than that observed in September 2022 (97.2 thousand), as well as compared to September 2019 (98.3 thousand), where the increase was in the order of 12.9%.

According to the statistical office, 81.7% of passengers disembarked at national airports in September corresponded to international traffic, that is, 2.7 million. The majority (68.0% of the total) come from the European continent, which reflects an increase of 15.2% compared to September 2022. The second main origin is the American continent, with 9.2% of total passengers landing (13.9% more compared to the same month last year).

Regarding the destination of passengers, 81.9% corresponded to international traffic, for a total of 2.8 million passengers. The main destination was countries on the European continent (69.5% of the total), an increase of 13.8% compared to September last year. The second main destination for embarked passengers was also the American continent (8.8% of the total, plus 15.6%).

Lisbon airport

Until September, Lisbon airport handled almost half of the total number of passengers (49.1%), around 25.6 million. This value points to an increase of 22.8% compared to the first nine months of 2022 (7.5% more compared to the same period in 2019).

Porto airport, in turn, concentrated 22.4% of the total number of passengers, totalling 11.69 million, which is equivalent to an increase of 23.0% compared to the first nine months of last year (16.0% more than 2% compared to the period before the pandemic).

Faro was the third airport with the highest passenger movement in the first nine months of 2023, with 7.82 million (a year-on-year increase of 18.7% and 5.2% compared to the same months in 2019).