Porto Airport Grew 7.1 Percent to August While Lisbon Managed 0.8, as Portugal's Airports Set Another Monthly Passenger Record
Portuguese airports handled 7.9 million passengers in August, up 2.0 percent, INE says. Porto grew 7.1 percent over eight months against 0.8 percent at Lisbon, and Spain overtook France as the second country of origin and destination.
Portugal's airports handled 7.9 million passengers in August, 2.0 percent more than in August 2025, according to flash air transport statistics published by INE, the national statistics institute, on Wednesday 14 October. The same growth rate as July confirms a busy but slower summer: between January and August, passenger numbers were up 2.4 percent on a year earlier, about half the 4.9 percent growth recorded over the same months of 2025.
Even so, the totals keep setting records. INE says every month of 2026 so far, except June, brought the highest passenger count ever recorded for that month. In August an average of 124.9 thousand passengers got off a plane in Portugal every day, 2.1 percent more than a year before. Commercial landings rose 1.4 percent to 26.7 thousand.
Porto does the growing
The eight-month figures show where that growth is happening. Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport handled 24.3 million passengers, 47.7 percent of the national total, but grew just 0.8 percent. Porto handled 12.1 million (23.8 percent of the total) and grew 7.1 percent. Faro, with 7.6 million passengers and a 14.8 percent share, grew 4.0 percent.
In absolute terms, Porto added about 806,000 passengers compared with January to August 2025, more than four times the roughly 184,000 added at Lisbon. Faro added about 293,000. The pattern matches the July figures, and it fits the picture of a capital airport with little room left to grow, which led the tourism confederation last month to urge Portugal to chase spending rather than visitor numbers. For anyone flying in or out, the extra traffic is now landing mostly in Porto and Faro, while Lisbon barely moves.
The rest of the network went the other way. The remaining airports, which include Madeira, Porto Santo and the Azores alongside smaller mainland airfields, handled just under 7.0 million passengers together, 1.6 percent fewer than a year earlier. INE's flash release does not break that group down by airport, so it does not show which of them fell.
Spain overtakes France
The United Kingdom remained the top country of origin and destination for flights to and from Portugal. Over the eight months, about 3.59 million passengers arrived on flights from the UK, up 5.2 percent, and departures to the UK rose 5.5 percent.
Spain has moved into second place, ahead of France. Arrivals on flights from Spain rose 6.4 percent to about 2.66 million, while arrivals from France fell 7.3 percent to about 2.65 million. Germany and Italy completed the top five.
In August itself, 81.4 percent of passengers landing in Portugal arrived on international flights, a total of 3.2 million (up 3.1 percent). Europe accounted for 66.4 percent of arrivals and the Americas for 9.8 percent.
Cargo outpaces passengers
Freight grew faster than passengers in August: Portuguese airports moved 22.0 thousand tonnes of cargo and mail, 7.2 percent more than a year earlier. Over the eight months, cargo and mail rose 1.7 percent to about 171.7 thousand tonnes. Lisbon handled 132.8 thousand tonnes of that (77.3 percent), up only 0.8 percent, while the other airports together grew 5.2 percent.
The 2026 figures are preliminary. The full INE release (in Portuguese) has the monthly tables, and INE will publish September's numbers on 13 November.
