Passenger flights' occupancy back to pre-pandemic levels

The number of occupied seats on flights to and from Dutch airports is almost back to the level of 2019, the last year before the coronavirus crisis. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), an average of 81 out of 100 seats on passenger flights were occupied in the second quarter of this year. In the same period in 2019, it was 82 seats.

The occupancy rate was under considerable pressure during the coronavirus crisis. In the second quarter of 2020, it was only 39 percent. In 2021, it was 44 percent. Last year, aviation already showed some recovery. The increasing number of travelers after the pandemic led to more occupied seats and an occupancy rate of 79 percent.

According to CBS, nearly 19 million travelers traveled to and from one of the five Dutch airports of national importance from April to June. That is an increase of 9.3 percent on an annual basis. Most of them, over 16 million passengers, traveled through Schiphol. That is 10 percent more travelers than in the same period in 2022. Eindhoven is the second busiest Dutch airport, with 1.9 million passengers processed in the second quarter.

The number of flights and passengers from and to Maastricht Aachen Airport was considerably lower, at 77 percent and 67 percent, respectively. According to the statistics office, that is due to the renovation of the runway. No planes departed or arrived in June and much of May.

Schiphol remains the most important airport, and not only in the Netherlands, according to Statistics Netherlands. Last year, 52.5 million travelers traveled through the airport. Only Paris Charles de Gaulle processed more passengers within Europe at 57.5 million.