According to a statement from Vinci, “in Portugal, traffic at airports returned in the fourth quarter of 2021 to a level equivalent to 73 percent of traffic in the same quarter of 2019 (3.2 times more than in the fourth quarter of 2020), with an increase of almost 19 points compared to the previous quarter”.

According to data published by Vinci, Lisbon airport closed 2021 with just over 12.1 million passengers, an increase of 31 percent compared to 2020 and a drop of 61 percent compared to 2019. In the case of Porto, last year it handled 5.8 million passengers, 32 percent more than in the same period and 55 percent less compared to 2019.

Faro, with 3.2 million passengers, recorded an increase compared to 2020 of 48 percent and a reduction compared to 2019 of 64 percent. Around two million passengers passed through Madeira, an increase of 73 percent year-on-year and a reduction of 40 percent compared to 2019. Finally, the movement of passengers in the Azores was 1.6 million passengers, 80 percent more than in 2020 and 34 percent less than in 2019.

According to the group, “passenger numbers connecting to the main European capitals increased particularly in October and November during the autumn holidays”, with “the pace of the recovery showing some signs of slowing down towards the end of the year, due to the fifth wave of the pandemic”.

The data revealed by the company also shows a total of 239,671 commercial movements at national airports in 2021, an increase of 31 percent year on year and a reduction of 44 percent compared to 2019.

Vinci highlighted that “after very encouraging results in October and November” the end of the year “was marked by a resurgence of the pandemic in some countries due to the appearance of the Omicron variant”.

“However, contrary to the situation at the end of 2020, governments did not impose such restrictive travel limitation measures, preferring to rely on screening and high vaccination rates in most countries”, indicated the company, noting that “the recovery of passenger traffic therefore continued in the fourth quarter of 2021 at most airports in the network”.