The airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira showed that in March 2024 a total of 414.5 thousand passengers, 5.7% more than the same time last year. However, flights dropped slightly to 2,779, states the Regional Directorate of Statistics (DREM).
These figures should also be taken into the context of public holidays, as Easter was early this year, more people travelled to the island in March. Futhermore, each aircraft (considering together those that landed and took off) carried, on average, about 155 passengers (146 in March 2023), at Madeira airport, while at Porto Santo that figure reached almost 72 passengers (59 in the same month of the previous year).
On the other hand, the movement of domestic and international passengers at the airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira registered positive year-on-year changes in international traffic (+3.1%) and in the domestic segment (+8.8%).
At Madeira Airport, international traffic (52.6% of the total) predominated over domestic traffic (47.4% of the total). At Porto Santo Airport, domestic traffic was prevalent (58.6% of the total), but with less disproportion compared to February 2024.
Scheduled flights at the airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira accounted for 91.4% of the total number of aircraft handled and 93.6% of the passengers (93.9% and 95.5% in the same period of the previous year, respectively).
There is also to highlight that. in March, the occupancy of aircraft handled at the airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira was around 87.9%, with Madeira airport reaching 88.5% and Porto Santo 72.9%. In the same period last year, occupancy rates were lower, at 82.6%, 83.4%, and 60.9%, in the same order.
From January to March 2024, those passengers embarking and disembarking (i.e., excluding those in transit) at the airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira amounted to 1,066.9 thousand, half corresponding to traffic exclusively between airports located in the national territory, which includes internal and domestic connections (47.9% of the total as a whole) and another to international (52.1%). Within the scope of the latter, the United Kingdom was the main country of origin and destination of international flights from the airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (31.1%), followed by Germany (20.9%) and France (5.0%).
In the IATA (International Air Transport Association) winter, from October 29, 2023, to March 23, 2024, Madeira airport operated commercial flights from 28 airlines (30 in the IATA 22/23 winter), with 62 routes (58 in the same period of the previous year) to 56 destinations (53 in the IATA 22/23 winter). At Porto Santo airport, commercial flights were carried out on 5 routes (4 in the IATA 22/23 winter), from 5 airlines (4 in the same period of the previous year) to 5 destinations (4 in the IATA 22/23 winter).
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
