More airline passengers used Dutch airports last year, still less than pre-pandemic

In 2023, over 71 million airline passengers traveled to and from the five airports in the Netherlands. That is over 16 percent more than in 2022 but still less than before the coronavirus pandemic, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, the number of travelers was still over 81 million.

In total, there were almost 506,000 commercial flights, 9 percent more than a year earlier. The average occupancy rate also increased. In 2023, an average of 79 out of every 100 aircraft seats were occupied on passenger flights, compared to 76 a year earlier. In 2019, there were 81.

Despite the increase, not all airports have reached pre-coronavirus levels. Schiphol handled almost 442,000 flights and nearly 62 million passengers in 2023. That was almost 18 percent more passengers than in 2022, but about 14 percent less than in 2019.

Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Eindhoven Airport were the only two airports in the Netherlands that handled more passengers than in 2022 and 2019. With almost 6.9 million airline passengers, Eindhoven remains the second airport for passenger transport in the Netherlands. Some 2.2 million people flew to and from Rotterdam.

Over half of the passengers traveled within Europe, mainly to Spain and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the United States was the most popular. The most popular connection to and from a Dutch airport was again between the Netherlands and Barcelona.

Air freight transport decreased by almost 9 percent to 1.4 million tons. Due to the temporary closure of Maastricht in the second quarter, freight carriers moved to other airports in 2023, with almost all freight transported via Schiphol.