Bergamo airport had 472,000 passengers in 2022, expects strong season in 2023

After two pandemic-affected years, passenger numbers are growing again at Bergamo BRNO airport. In 2022, the airport handled exactly 471,811 passengers, which represents 153% growth when compared to the pandemic-affected year of 2021.

The summer months of July and August were the most successful, when the airport saw more than 200,000 passengers, in doing so surpassing the ‘pre-Covid’ year of 2019. This year, passengers will be able to fly to 29 destinations from Brno. New additions include Portugal (Madeira), Albania, and Cape Verde.

The most popular holiday destinations of 2022 included Antalya in Turkey, the Egyptian resorts of Hurghada and Marsa Alam, Burgas in Bulgaria, and Heraklion and Rhodes in Greece. That could all change this year, however. Travellers will now be able to fly to up to 29 destinations from Brno, six of which are completely new additions. The regular route to the Italian city of Bergamo has also been renewed.

“I’m pleased that we have been able to continue to expand the range of flights from Brno and connect it with other destinations. As a result, we are expecting a strong season this year and are fully prepared,” said Zdeněk Šoustal, board member of AIRPORT BRNO a.s.

Nearly 30 destinations and the return of a regular route to Bergamo

Presales of summer package holidays are approaching their peak and, according to travel agents, people are keen to fly from Brno. “At the moment it looks like we’re in for another busy summer season at the airport, holidaymakers really do have a wide variety of destinations to choose from this year. These new additions include Madeira in Portugal, Tirana in Albania, Tivat in Montenegro, with two islands in Cape Verde to be added as well. Not to mention the Canary Islands, with one flight a week to Tenerife and now to Fuerteventura, too” explained Radek Lang, BRNO AIRPORT a.s. Head of Transport Operations.

At the end of March, the regular route to the Italian city of Bergamo will also resume. Ryanair will operate flights twice per week. After more than 10 years, we will also see the return of seasonal routes to Taba, another Egyptian destination for travellers to choose, to go alongside Hurghada and Marsa Alam.

The summer months contributed heavily to last year’s figures

Back in September, Brno Airport predicted that the total number of passengers would be just under 460,000 by the end of the year. In the end, the actual figure was some 10,000 passengers more than that prediction, representing 87% of the pre-Covid year of 2019.

“The results from the year just gone were largely down to the summer months. Last year we had 1,200 more passengers in June and 3,100 more in August, when compared to 2019. We managed to deal with the summer peak. This at least partially made up for the two pandemic-affected years that came before,” commented Zdeněk Šoustal, board member of AIRPORT BRNO a.s.

The total number of departures and arrivals at Brno Airport climbed to slightly over 24,000. The yearly record-setter in terms of the number of flights carried out is the regular, year-round route to London Stansted, which is usually fully booked.

There was also lots of activity in the cargo sector, in which FedEx and DHL operate as part of their daily link to their central transshipment hubs in Paris and Leipzig. In fact, it was the introduction of a new DHL route in 2020 which helped Brno Airport to overcome the challenging coronavirus period.

“Commercial passenger flights obviously remain our top priority. However, cargo flights effectively supplement our long-term strategy to make Brno Airport a multi-functional complex for all types of air transport. Naturally, the record year in terms of the amount of cargo processed was 2021, since the pandemic encouraged market development for this sector. The total amount of cargo handled for 2022 was 11,222 tonnes, a great result for us,” concluded Radek Lang, BRNO AIRPORT a.s. Head of Transport Operations.

Overview of BRNO AIRPORT summer season 2023 destinations*

*updated 13th February 2023

More information about flights can be found here: https://www.brno-airport.cz/en/flight-information/arrivals/