According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), 5.4 million passengers passed through national airports, 2.1% more than in the same period last year, making this the best March ever.

“After a historic monthly high in January and a slight decrease in February, there was a new historic monthly high in the number of passengers handled at national airports in March,” says INE, in the rapid air transport statistics.

The average daily arrivals rose to 88.2 thousand passengers in March, above the 86.5 thousand registered in March last year. In the same month, 18.7 thousand aircraft landed at national airports on commercial flights, which represents a growth of 2.5% compared to the same period last year.

Around 82.5% of passengers disembarking at national airports corresponded to international traffic, reaching 2.3 million passengers (+2.4%), the majority of which came from the European continent (67.9% of the total). The American continent was the second main origin, accounting for 9.5% of the total number of disembarked passengers (+4.8%).

Regarding embarked passengers, 82% corresponded to international traffic, making a total of 2.2 million passengers, 3% more than in March 2024. Of these, more than 69% (69.2%) had airports on the European continent as their destination, registering a growth of 3% compared to March 2024. Airports on the American continent were the second main destination for embarked passengers (8.6% of the total; +1.2%).

In the accumulated quarter, Lisbon airport handled 54.6% of the total passengers (7.6 million), 1.4% more than in the first quarter of 2024. Faro airport registered a 4% growth in passenger movement (1.2 million; 8.9% of the total) and Porto airport concentrated 23% of the total passengers handled (3.2 million) and a year-on-year increase of 2.6%.

In terms of countries, France was the main country of origin and destination for flights, having recorded a slight increase in the number of disembarked passengers (0.4%) and a decrease (-1.3%) in the number of embarked passengers compared to the same period in 2024.

The United Kingdom and Spain occupied 2nd and 3rd positions as the main countries of origin and destination, followed by Germany. The 5th position was occupied by Brazil as the country of origin and Italy as the country of destination for flights.