Passenger movement at Madeira’s airports with a 61.7% drop

The movement of passengers at Madeira airports fell 61.7 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period of the previous year and fell 54.4 percent in cruise ships, indicated the Regional Directorate of Statistics (DREM) on 3 September.

The data published also points to a 38.2 percent reduction in users of urban public transport routes in the archipelago, in a period marked by restrictions and measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the first half of 2020, the airports of the autonomous region registered a movement of approximately 624.4 thousand passengers, 61.7 percent less than in the same period of the previous year”, indicates the Regional Directorate of Statistics, explaining that Madeira Airport had a negative year-on-year variation of 61.3 percent, while Porto Santo Airport registered a drop of 70.5 percent.

In the second quarter of 2020, the reduction in passenger movement at the archipelago’s airports as a whole was 98.8 percent.

In relation to air cargo, in the first six months of 2020 there was a decrease in both unloaded (-27.3 percent) and loaded goods (-23.1 percent).

On the other hand, according to data from the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira, collective transport of passengers by bus accounted for a total of 8.1 million users in the first half of the year, with 5.3 million passengers transported between January and June, 38.2 percent less than in the same period of the previous year.

“It should be noted that in the second quarter of 2020 - the one in which the impact of the pandemic was most felt - the transport of passengers by bus was less than one third of the 2019 figure,” stresses the entity.

Between January and June 2020, around 170,000 tickets were sold to users of the region’s cable cars (-63.6 percent than in the same period last year), of which 91.7 percent were for adults, 4.0 percent for children and the remainder for other types of users.

Total revenues for the first six months were approximately 2 million Euros, corresponding to a decrease of 62.8 percent over the same period of last year.

On the other hand, the region’s conservatories registered 4,814 used motor vehicles in the first half of 2020, 81.3 percent of which were light passenger vehicles and 15.5 percent light goods vehicles. 149 heavy vehicles were also registered, around 3.1 percent of the total.

“In comparison with the first half of 2019, the number of registrations fell by 1,861, a year-on-year decrease of 27.9 percent. In the second quarter of 2020, the reduction compared to the same period of the previous year was 52.5 percent”, stresses the Regional Directorate of Statistics.

In the first half of 2020, 1,075 road accidents were recorded in the archipelago with police intervention, with the number of victims being 392 (246 less than in the same half of 2019, a reduction of 38.6 percent).

In terms of maritime transport, the Regional Directorate of Statistics notes that in the first six months of the year 68 cruise ships entered the region’s ports, 83 less than in the same period of the previous year, with a 54.4 percent decrease in transit passengers.

On the other hand, there was no movement of cruise ships in the port of Funchal in the second quarter of 2020 due to measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the Madeira-Porto Santo line, the number of passengers in the first half of the year decreased 60.4 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, standing at 58.5 thousand, while in the second half it was about one third of that recorded in the same period of 2019.

“The movement of goods in the ports of the region in the semester in reference was 518.4 thousand tons, reflecting a negative variation of 10.8 percent compared to the same period last year,” says the Regional Directorate of Statistics.

From January to June 2020, there were 314 recreational boats entering the archipelago’s marinas, representing a 54.4 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.

There were 731 crew members and passengers on these boats (-71.0 percent compared to the same period last year), and the second quarter of 2020, the decrease was even more marked (-89.4 percent).