“NAV Portugal managed 4,018 flights during the month of April, a 94.2 percent drop compared to the same month last year, which confirms the strong impact of the measures to contain the covid-19 pandemic on air traffic”, reads in a statement released by the air traffic services manager in Portugal.

In April 2019, more than 69 thousand movements had been registered.

The NAV also states that, in March, the decrease had been 36 percent, "thanks to the first half of the month that still ran under normal conditions until the beginning of the interdiction of air connections", but already predicted an "abrupt drop in April".

In the first four months of the year, NAV managed a total of 165,600 movements, against 253,700 in the same period in 2019 and 246,000 in 2018.

"These figures are even lower than the more pessimistic forecasts drawn up by NAV Portugal when drawing the budget for 2020, when it was estimated that in the worst case scenario, April would arrive with a minimum of 182.7 thousand controlled flights", he adds.

The NAV admits that it is still not possible to foresee a return to normality in air traffic, despite the announcement of the resumption of some connections from this month, considering even "expected" the trend of "significant drop in the coming months".

The total number of flights managed by NAV, or “movements”, includes not only flights with origin / destination at Portuguese airports, but also those flying over the airspace under Portuguese responsibility, which totals more than 5.8 million km2 (square kilometres).