Greece, Luxembourg only EU countries to beat 2019 commercial flight numbers

Greece and Luxembourg are the only two EU countries that recorded an increase in commercial flights in August 2022 compared with August 2019, at +5% and +2% respectively according to the latest data published by Eurostat.

Per the report, the largest decreases in flights were recorded in Slovenia (-42%), Latvia (-39%) and Finland (-31%).

Overall, in August 2022, the number of commercial flights in the EU increased by 25% compared with August 2021. While this is still below the pre-pandemic levels, the gap is slowly closing (-14% compared with August 2019).

In absolute terms, the number of commercial flights stood at 596 930 in August 2022, compared with 478 996 in August 2021, 324 538 in August 2020 and 695 912 in August 2019.

Furthermore, some EU airports recorded increases in the number of commercial flights compared with 2019.

The largest increases in the number of commercial flights were recorded in Napoli Capodichino (+1 156, +14%), Kerkira Ioannis Kapodistrias (+1 026, +22%) and Santorini (+978, +30%).

At the other end of the scale, the largest decreases in the number of commercial flights were recorded in Frankfurt Main (-10 554, -23% compared with August 2019), Milano Malpensa (-9 048, -34%) and Roma Fiumicino (-8 018,-27%).