Budapest Airport took second place on the regional leaderboard

The coronavirus pandemic and the temporary suspensions of international and domestic air connections resulted in a significant decrease in traffic in the Central and Eastern European airspace. In terms of passenger volume, Warsaw Chopin Airport retained its leading position, but Budapest Airport overtook Václav Havel Airport Prague.

Based on the latest statistical data, Airportal compared the air traffic development in the Central and Eastern European region during the first half of the year. The analysis included the airports of the major capitals: Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Vienna. So far, 2020 saw more than 60% decrease in traffic at these airports compared to the same period in the last year.

Warsaw Chopin Airport is a major airport in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in terms of both transfer and point-to-point passenger traffic volume. The airport plays a significant role in the Polish air transport market; in 2018, Chopin Airport handled 18 million passengers. According to the airport’s official report, this number decreased rather significantly in 2020: in the period between January and June,

Chopin Airport handled 2.84 million international and 334,000 domestic passengers, 63% less than in 2019.

Václav Havel Airport Prague handled a total of 17.8 million passengers in 2019 and throughout the entire year, 71 airlines provided regular connections from Prague to a total of 165 destinations. Based on this data, approximately one million more passengers passed through the airport than in 2018. This positive trend was supposed to continue in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe drop in air traffic in Prague.