Air transport stats for April, released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), record the movement of 739,400 passengers (boarding, disembarking and direct transit) and 14,000 tonnes of cargo and mail, decreasing 86 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively, compared to the same month in 2019, before the pandemic.

France was the main country of origin and destination of flights, followed by Switzerland and Germany, according to the data.

Also in April, 6,500 commercial aircraft landed at national airports, a decrease of 66.9 percent compared to April 2019.

“Air transport continues to register traffic still very far from pre-pandemic values”, concludes the institute, specifying that 62.3 percent of passengers landing at national airports in April corresponded to international traffic.

Between January and April 2021, there was a 5.6 percent decrease in cargo and mail handled at national airports (-13.5 percent in 2020), with the movement of goods at Lisbon airport representing 66.1 percent of the total, reaching 34,700 tonnes (-11.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year).