Lisbon, May 14, 2026 (Lusa) – Portugal's airports handled 14.497 million passengers in the first quarter, a 3.9% year-on-year increase as historical monthly highs in the first three months of 2026 drove growth, Statistics Portugal (INE) said on Thursday.
INE’s "Air Transport Quick Statistics" showed the UK was the main origin and destination for flights in the first quarter of 2026.
Passenger numbers arriving from the UK rose by 3.9%, while those departing to the UK increased by 1.4%.
Spain and France held the second and third positions for arrivals, respectively, while for departures, Spain and France swapped places.
Germany and Brazil followed in fourth and fifth place in both rankings.
Lisbon airport handled 54.2% of all passengers in the first quarter of 2026, representing 7.9 million people and 3.1% growth compared to the same period in 2025.
Porto airport handled 3.5 million passengers (24.0% of the total, up 8.3% from 2025) and Faro handled 1.3 million (8.8% of the total, up 2.4%).
INE also reported a 0.3% decrease in cargo and mail movement at national airports in the first quarter.
Freight movement at Lisbon airport accounted for 77.0% of the total, reaching 46,200 tonnes, a 1.4% drop compared to the same period in 2025.
In the remaining airports, cargo and mail grew 3.6%.
In March 2026, 19,400 commercial aircraft carried 5.6 million passengers, including arrivals, departures and direct transits.
Cargo and mail movement reached 22,800 tonnes, reflecting increases of 3.6% and 4.3% in flights and passengers, respectively, and a 0.1% decrease in cargo compared to March 2025.
In February, these figures rose by 0.7%, 3.3% and 0.6% respectively.
After record highs in January and February, INE said, "March reached a new historic high in the number of passengers handled at national airports."
This represented a daily average of 92,000 arriving passengers, "above the 88,200 recorded in March 2025," a 4.4% growth.
International traffic accounted for 83.4% of arriving passengers in March 2026, reaching 2.4 million, a 5.5% increase.
Most came from Europe (66.7% of the total), a 5.5% year-on-year increase.
The Americas were the second main origin, accounting for 10.3% of all arriving passengers, a 13.5% increase.
International traffic also accounted for 82.8% of departing passengers, totalling 2.3 million, a 5.1% increase.
European airports were the main destination for 69.1% of these, up 4% from March 2025.
Airports in the Americas were the second-largest destination for departing passengers, accounting for 9.5% of total departures, a 15.2% increase.
JO/LYT // ADB.
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