Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport Statistics

Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS), or Lisbon Airport, is Portugal’s main international airport and one of the fastest-growing major aviation hubs in Europe. It connects the capital to more than 145 destinations worldwide and handles over half of Portugal’s total air traffic.

Lisbon Airport handles over 30 million passengers annually, making it the 12th busiest airport in Europe and an important intercontinental hub.

• The airport served 36.13 million passengers in 2025, a 3.0% increase from 35.09 million in 2024 and the highest figure on record.
• Before the COVID-19 pandemic, traffic peaked at 31.18 million in 2019 but dropped sharply by 70% to 9.27 million in 2020.
• Recovery followed with 12.15 million in 2021 and 28.26 million in 2022, a 132.6% year-over-year increase as travel restrictions eased.
• In 2023, the airport handled 33.65 million passengers, a 19.1% rise from the year before.

Lisbon Airport records over 200,000 aircraft movements annually. However, growth in flight operations has lagged behind passenger growth due to capacity constraints.

• The airport logged 226,998 aircraft movements in 2025, a modest 0.8% increase from 225,268 aircraft movements in 2024.
• Aircraft movements peaked at 216,917 in 2019, then dropped to 88,518 in 2020 amid travel restrictions.
• Recovery continued with 113,236 movements in 2021 and 198,200 in 2022.
• By 2023, movements reached 222,752, showing a steady post-pandemic recovery.

Passenger volumes at LIS follow a seasonal trend, with peak traffic in summer and lower volumes in winter.

• August 2025 had the highest amount of traffic, with 3.5 million passengers.
• July followed with 3.42 million.
• September and October saw 3.32 million and 3.29 million passengers respectively.
• January and February were the slowest months, with 2.42 million and 2.36 million passengers.

European Destinations

• Madrid (MAD) carried 1.91 million passengers in 2024, making it the busiest European route from Lisbon.
• Paris (ORY) handled 1.55 million passengers, serving as a major connection point to France.
• Barcelona (BCN) transported 1.3 million passengers, maintaining strong Spain-Portugal connectivity.
• London-Heathrow (LHR) served 1.12 million passengers, providing critical UK business and leisure links.
• Amsterdam (AMS) carried 1.05 million passengers, offering extensive European hub connections.

• Madeira (FNC) carried 1.4 million passengers in 2024, providing essential connectivity to Madeira.
• Ponta Delgada (PDL) handled 933,707 passengers, serving the Azores’ main island.
• Porto (OPO) transported 755,476 passengers, connecting Portugal’s two major cities.
• Terceira-Lajes (TER) served 320,984 passengers, linking to another key Azores destination.
• Faro (FAO) carried 279,682 passengers, connecting the capital to the Algarve region.

• Lisbon Airport generated €882.7 million in revenue in 2024, an 18.2% increase over 2023 and the highest figure to date.
• Revenue totaled €746.7 million in 2023, reflecting ongoing recovery and expansion.
• Revenue stood at €598.5 million in 2022, showing early signs of financial rebound after the pandemic.

• Single runway operations limit capacity and cause bottlenecks.
• Labor actions, including ground handling strikes, disrupt check-in, baggage and aircraft services.
• Power infrastructure failures, like the May 2025 Iberian Peninsula outage, caused widespread cancellations.
• Air Traffic Control issues, including staffing shortages, lead to network-wide delays.
• Aerodrome capacity limitations are a key factor, especially during peak hours.
• A high-pressure operational environment reduces margin for error and limits the airport’s ability to absorb disruptions.