Portugal’s airports handle record 6.6 million passengers in April

Airports in Portugal handled a new all-time high of 6.6 million passengers in April – up 2.1% year-on-year – bringing the total for the first four months of the year to 21.133 million, a rise of 3.3%, INE statistics institute has announced.

Giving another indication why the country has been floundering under ‘passenger queue chaos’ at border controls, INE said: “Following record highs recorded in the first three months of 2026, April once again reached a new all-time high in the number of passengers handled at domestic airports.”

On average, 111,800 passengers arrived each day that month – up from 109,900 in April 2025, a 1.7% increase.

In the period from January to April, the number of passengers handled at national airports increased by 3.3% compared to 2025 (+4.1% in 2025), reaching 21.133 million.

During this four-month period, Lisbon Airport accounted for 52.0% of total passenger numbers, reaching 11 million – representing year-on-year growth of 2.6%.

Porto Airport handled 5.1 million passengers (24.0% of the total), a 7.6% increase, whilst Faro Airport recorded 2.3 million passengers (11.0% of the total), representing a year-on-year increase of 3.1%.

Analysing the volume of passengers arriving and departing on international flights up to the end of April, the United Kingdom remained the main country of origin and destination, with year-on-year increases of 3.3% and 3.4%, respectively.

France, Spain and Germany occupied second, third and fourth places, respectively, whilst Brazil rounded off the top five countries of origin and Italy the top five countries of destination.

As regards cargo and mail traffic at domestic airports, there was a slight increase of 0.6% between January and April, compared with a 0.7% rise in the same period of 2025.

Lisbon Airport handled 63,300 tonnes of cargo and mail (77.1% of the total), representing a year-on-year change of 1.0%, whilst at the other airports, cargo and mail traffic increased by 6.5%.

Looking at April alone, national airports handled 22,000 tonnes of cargo and mail, a year-on-year increase of 3.2% (0.01% in the previous month).

Data from INE also indicates that in April, there were 22,200 commercial aircraft landings at domestic airports, an increase of 0.7% compared to April 2025.

In that month, 83.5% of disembarking passengers were on international flights, totalling 2.8 million passengers (+3.0%).

Europe remained the main source of disembarking passengers, accounting for 69.6% of the total (+2.4%). The Americas remained in second place, accounting for 9.3% (+9.4%).

As for passengers boarding, 83.1% were international passengers, totalling 2.7 million (+4.0%) (again, an indication of why border controls suffered so much pressure before they were bolstered by extra machines and personnel).

INE highlights the European continent as the main destination for passengers boarding (70.6% of the total), with growth of 5.2% compared to April 2025, while the Americas remained the second main destination (8.4% of the total; +2.6%).

Source: LUSA