In August, the Azores registered a new record for the number of passengers disembarking at airports that month, with more than 285,000 arrivals, according to data from the Regional Statistics Service (SREA), consulted today by Lusa.

The number of passengers landings by air recorded in the region in August is the highest for that month, surpassing the figure for 2022 (259,916), which had already beaten the 2019 record (220,376), according to the data available on the SREA website since 1986.

The highest number of arrivals was among passengers on inter-island flights, with 137,670 travelers.

Even so, this type of flight grew the least compared to August 2022, with a variation of 6.5%.

Passengers on international flights increased by 20.5% compared to the same period last year, with a total of 43,391 arrivals.

Passengers from other regions of Portugal (mainland Portugal and Madeira) reached 103,962, 9.8% more than in August 2022.

According to the SREA, all the islands in the archipelago showed favorable monthly year-on-year variations in passenger arrivals in August. However, Graciosa saw a 0.1% increase, with only four more passengers than in August 2022.

São Miguel was the island with the most significant increase (12.1%), followed by Santa Maria (9.4%), Flores (9.3%) and Pico (8.7%).

Corvo grew 7.4%, São Jorge 7%, Terceira 6.7%, and Faial 5.1%.

The number of passengers boarded in August was 293,436, 9.1% more than in the same period of the previous year.

Passengers boarding from inter-island flights grew by 5.9%, those from the mainland and Madeira by 9.5%, and those from international flights by 18.1%.

in Açoriano Oriental-Paulo Simões, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Medial Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.