Faro welcomed 3.5 million passengers this summer (+14.1%)
Portuguese airports celebrated their “best summer ever” in terms of passenger numbers this year, and Faro Airport played a key role in the historic results.
Between July and September, Portuguese airports welcomed 16.6 million passengers, a 14.7% increase compared to last year and a much higher number than in recent years.
Many of them passed through Faro Airport, which welcomed 3.5 million passengers this summer – 14.1% up on last summer.
The increase is even more impressive when the first nine months of 2017 are taken into account – a total of 7.3 million passengers flew to and from Faro, representing a 16.3% hike compared to the same period last year.
Lisbon was the busiest airport in Portugal this summer, welcoming over eight million passengers (+16%) and a total of 20.2 million since the start of the year (nearly +20%).
In Porto, the number of passengers between July and September totalled 3.2 million (+13.5%), while since January it reached 7.3 million (+16.3%).
Finally, Madeira Airport registered over one million passengers this summer (+4.8%) and 2.6 million since January (+8.7%), while in the Azores the numbers reached 813,000 in the summer (+23.1%) and 1.8 million since the start of the year (+20.4%).
The data was revealed by Vinci Airports, the French owners of national airport authority ANA.
“This growth is due largely to the good performance of national airline TAP which intensified its expansion by opening new routes to Africa and the USA and recovering traffic to Brazil,” the company said in a statement.
“Low-cost airlines also achieved good results, as the country continues to be a very sought-after destination among European tourists”.
It added: “Lisbon Airport, an excellent European link between China and Latin America, confirmed its status as a hub with the launch at the end of July of direct flights between Beijing and Lisbon three times a week, operated by Beijing Capital Airlines.”
Photo by: BRUNO FILIPE PIRES/OPEN MEDIA GROUP
