Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport and Warsaw-Modlin Airport handled record numbers of passengers in June. The airports improved their pre-pandemic results, which is an important indicator that air traffic is clearly recovering.

The pandemic was a caesura for aviation and brought flight operations to a halt – even for months in some countries. The aviation industry estimated that Poland could expect a full revival of air traffic in 2024. However, in June, two Polish airports, handling record numbers of passengers, reported beating their best results even from the time before the pandemic.

Almost 80,000 passengers were handled by Rzeszów-Jasionka airport in June. This result is 7% better than the previous record set in 2018. According to the airport, such a good result is the result of the most extensive route network in the port’s history – this summer it offers as many as 23 destinations to 12 countries. The biggest growth was in the charter flight segment, where the number of travellers increased by 35%.

A record number of passengers was also recorded in Modlin in June. More than 315.5 thousand passengers used the airport’s services and 2 168 flight operations were handled there. This represented 106.1% of passenger volume and 105.9% of take-off and landing operations, respectively, compared to the same period in 2019. It was also the best month ever by freight. Previously, the record-breaking month was August 2019, when more than 303,000 passengers were handled.

This year’s holidays are exceptional for the airline industry – it is the first summer season in two years with virtually no major transport restrictions. Interest in flights is huge, something airports across Europe are not coping with. London Heathrow and Frankfurt airports, have decided to limit the number of flight operations and ask their partners to stop selling tickets.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński