Brussels – Summer usually means holidays — and more flights and air traffic. The last summer months confirm the trend, with commercial flights rising across the European Union. According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, between June and August 2026, there were over 2 million flights. More specifically, there were 708,980 flights in August, an increase of 2.3 per cent compared with the previous year and 5.7 per cent compared with 2024. July stood out as the busiest month of the quarter, with 709,931 flights, marking an increase of 2.8 per cent from 2025 and 5.7 per cent from 2024. In June, there were 662,480 flights, representing a 2.1 per cent increase compared with 2025 and a 4.9 per cent increase compared with 2024.
In August 2026, compared with the same month of the previous year, the number of commercial flights increased in 19 Member States and decreased in 8. The largest increases were recorded in Slovakia (37 per cent), Malta (12.4 per cent) and Estonia (8.3 per cent). The most significant decreases were in Austria (-4.7 per cent), Cyprus (-3.0 per cent) and Germany (-2.4 per cent). The figures also show that Italy has stabilised at 5.7 per cent.
The source of the Eurostat data was Eurocontrol, a pan-European civil-military organisation whose aim is to support European aviation. The data includes both scheduled and unscheduled commercial flights.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
