Angra do Heroismo, Azores Islands, Portugal, Jan. 9, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Azores Islands broke the record for passengers arriving at airports in 2025, with more than 2.3 million passengers, an increase of 2.6% compared to 2024, according to data released on Friday by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).
"In 2025, more than 2.3 million passengers landed at airports in the Azores, representing an annual increase of 2.6%, which represented an increase of 59,490 passengers compared to the previous year," reads the SREA report on air passenger traffic.
According to SREA data, in 2024 the region recorded 2,315,096 passengers arriving by air, and in 2025 that number rose to 2,374,585 passengers.
This is the fourth consecutive year in which the number of passengers arriving at airports in the region has exceeded the highest figures previously recorded.
In 2022 and 2023, the region had already achieved record figures in air transport, with 1.8 and 2.1 million arrivals, respectively.
According to the SREA, the increase recorded in 2025 was mainly due to year-on-year increases in passengers arriving on inter-island flights, which rose by 4.5%, and Portuguese domestic flights (to/from the mainland and Madeira), which rose by 1.7%.
In contrast, the number of passengers disembarking on international flights in 2025 fell by 0.6% compared to 2024.
After three consecutive months of year-on-year declines (between September and November), the Azores saw an increase again in December, with 127,880 passengers disembarking, 0.5% more than in the same period in 2024.
Of the nearly 128,000 passengers disembarking in December, 63,050 (49.3%) were from domestic flights and 53,806 (42.1%) from inter-island flights. A total of 11,024 passengers (8.6%) disembarked from international flights.
Flights from mainland Portugal and Madeira saw a year-on-year increase of 2% and inter-island flights of 2.7%, while international flights saw a decrease of 15.1%.
Of the nine islands of the Azores, only two saw a drop in passenger arrivals in December: Flores (-9.4%) and Santa Maria (-3.8%).
With a month-on-month growth of 7.3%, Faial was the island that rose the most the month of December, followed by Graciosa (4.3%), São Jorge (3.6%), Pico (1%), Terceira (0.7%) and São Miguel (0.1%).
The island of Corvo recorded the same number of passengers disembarking as in December 2024.
With 74,451 passengers, the island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, accounted for 58.2% of total arrivals at Azores airports in December, followed by Terceira, with 30,860 (24.1%), Faial, with 7,173 (5.6%), and Pico, with 5,013 (3.9%).
Looking at 2025, all islands recorded a year-on-year increase in the number of passengers arriving by air, with the exception of Santa Maria, which fell by 0.6%.
Pico was the island that grew the most (5.6%), followed by Graciosa (5.1%), Corvo (4.9%), São Jorge (4.9%), Faial (4.6%) and Flores (4.5%).
The two most populous islands in the archipelago, São Miguel and Terceira, showed the lowest year-on-year increases, with 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively.
The number of passengers boarding at airports in the region reached 122,989 in December, 1.9% more than in the same month in 2024.
Domestic flights carried 59,650 passengers (up 3.4%), inter-island flights carried 53,956 (up 3.2%) and international flights carried 9,383 (down 12.7%).
In total, 2,376,182 passengers boarded flights at Azores airports in 2025, 59,639 more than in 2024.
CYB/AYLS // AYLS
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