Cyprus commercial flights surge in September 2023

Cyprus has reported a substantial 22.1 per cent increase in the number of commercial flights during September 2023, when compared to the same month from the previous year.

This report was created using data sourced from monthly statistics collected by Eurocontrol and published by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union.

While Cyprus experienced a more modest 5.9 per cent increase when compared to September 2019, the European Union saw its flight numbers lagging behind by 8.9 per cent compared to the same pre-pandemic period.

Similar trends were observed during the summer months from June to August, both for the European Union and Cyprus.

In the EU, the three summer months showed significant growth compared to 2022, with increases ranging from 6.6 per cent to 7.4 per cent.

However, flight numbers remained lower in comparison to 2019, with June down by 10.4 per cent, July by 9.0 per cent, and August by 8.5 per cent.

In the case of Cyprus, the summer months experienced substantial growth compared to 2022, with rates ranging from 21.0 per cent to 23.8 per cent.

Additionally, there was a slight increase compared to 2019, with growth rates from 0.4 per cent to 6.8 per cent.

At the country level within the EU for September 2023, only six countries recorded higher flight numbers compared to September 2019.

These included Greece with an increase of 10.9 per cent, Portugal with 9.0 per cent, Cyprus with 5.9 per cent, Croatia with 2.6 per cent, Ireland with 1.4 per cent, and Malta with 0.7 per cent.

On the contrary, five countries remained significantly below the 2019 levels, with Latvia experiencing the largest decrease at 30.4 per cent, followed by Finland at 30.2 per cent, Estonia at 25.4 per cent, Sweden at 24.1 per cent, and Slovenia at 22.9 per cent.

These figures indicate that some European nations are still struggling to recover to pre-pandemic aviation levels.