The number of passengers handled in national airports increased by 4.8% to 34.480 million in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2024, with the United Kingdom as the main country of origin and destination for flights.
According to the rapid air transport statistics released today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the United Kingdom saw growth in the number of passengers disembarking (+2.9%) and embarking (+2.5%) compared to the same period in 2024.
France and Spain occupied the second and third positions as the main countries of origin and destination.
In the first half of the year, Lisbon airport handled 50% of the total passengers (17.2 million), an increase of 3% compared to the same period in 2024.
Faro airport recorded a growth of 7% in passenger movement (4.6 million, 13.4% of the total) and Porto airport concentrated 22.9% of the total passengers handled (7.9 million), with an increase of 5.5%.
Between January and June, the movement of cargo and mail by air transport grew by 2.6%.
In an analysis of the month of June alone, 7.1 million passengers and 21.1 thousand tons of cargo and mail were handled in national airports, corresponding to increases of 5.9% and 4%, respectively, compared to June 2024, after growth rates of 5.7% and 8.1% in the previous month.
In that month, the average daily disembarkation was 118.8 thousand passengers, more than the approximately 113 thousand recorded in June of the previous year, reflecting a rise of 5.2%.
In June, 82% of the passengers disembarked at national airports were international traffic, reaching 2.9 million passengers (+5.3%), mostly from the European continent (68.1% of the total), corresponding to a growth of 4.6% compared to June 2024.
The American continent was the second main origin, concentrating 9.7% of the total disembarked passengers (+8.6%).
Concerning embarked passengers, 81.9% were international traffic, totaling 2.9 million passengers (+7.2%), of which 68.2% had airports in the European continent as the main destination (+6.3% compared to June 2024).
The airports in the American continent were the second main destination for embarked passengers (9.4% of the total, +12.3%).
