Nearly 71 percent fewer passengers at Dutch airports in 2020

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In 2020, 23,6 million passengers traveled to and from the five national airports in the Netherlands. In 2019, there were 81,2 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, 3,6 million passengers flew, a decrease of 81,4 percent compared to the same quarter in 2019. The amount of goods transported by air decreased in 2020, while the number of cargo flights increased. At 2020 thousand, the total number of flights in 258 was more than half lower than a year earlier. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands on the basis of new figures.

Strong drop in passenger traffic at all national airports

The measures taken in March 2020 to combat the corona virus are clearly visible in all subsequent months: the number of passengers transported fell sharply in 2020 at the five national airports. For example, 17,5 thousand passengers traveled via Groningen Airport, 90 percent less than in 2019. At Amsterdam Schiphol, the number of passengers fell by 70,9 percent to 20,9 million passengers. At Eindhoven Airport, the second largest airport after Schiphol, the number of passengers decreased by 68,9 percent to 2,1 million passengers. 76,6 percent fewer travelers passed through the terminal of Rotterdam The Hague than in 2019, in Maastricht Aachen this was 81,4 percent.

Due to a lower occupancy rate per aircraft, the number of air passengers at all five national airports fell more than the number of flights. Despite the outbreak of the corona pandemic, most passengers in 2020 flew to the same countries as in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, slightly more ( 1,5 percent) traveled to and from the countries within the EU, with the top 3 most popular countries remaining the same (the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy). The top 3 of the European countries that do not belong to the EU also remained the same in these three years, with most passengers flying to Turkey, Switzerland and Norway.

Less cargo transported, more cargo flights

The corona measures have had less effect on the amount of goods transported than on the number of passengers. The amount of goods transported by air decreased by 2020 percent in 6,2 to 1,6 million tonnes. In 2020, more than 1,4 million tons of goods were transported via Amsterdam, a decrease of 8,2 percent compared to 2019. At Maastricht airport, the only other airport where cargo is processed, the amount of goods transported increased by 22 percent up to 136 thousand tons.
While the amount of cargo decreased, the number of cargo flights increased by 70,9 percent. Whereas in 2018 and 2019 an average of 59 percent of the amount of cargo was transported by cargo flights and 41 percent by passenger flights, in 2020 this share was 74 and 26 percent respectively.