The high season of July-August 2023 ended with a positive outcome for theRéunion-Roland Garros airportwhere the number of passengers increased during these two months of 4.7% compared to 2022 and 7.6% compared to 2019.
If traffic fell by 6.8% in July and 4.6% in August on the Hexagon-Reunion axis, where companies offered less capacity than last year, it increased by 26% on the regional lines compared to 2022 and 14% compared to 2019, the reference year for air transport since the health crisis.
The Reunion-Mayotte link confirms its dynamism and attendance on the Reunion-Mauritius line has started to rise sharply again, exceeding the results of July-August 2019. Another international destination popular with Reunion Islanders, Thailand attracted 24% during this holiday period. more passengers than in 2019.
Plus 7.8% compared to 2019
At the end of the first eight months of the year, passenger traffic at La Réunion-Roland Garros airport (1.746 million passengers) recorded an increase of 22% compared to the previous year and 7.8% compared to the previous year. compared to 2019. At the end of August, the milestone of one million passengers was crossed on the lines between the metropolitan airports (Orly, Roissy, Marseille and Lyon) and Reunion, i.e. 6.3% better than in 2019. An increase of 2.1% is also recorded compared to 2022, a year during which the French destination further benefited from the slow reopening of air borders between the countries of the Indian Ocean.
Attendance on regional lines has increased sharply (+66%) since the start of the year compared to 2022 and exceeds the 2019 level by 10%. The two main drivers of this progression are the lines to Mayotte and the Mauritius, which now represent, alone, 80% of the regional traffic handled by La Réunion Roland Garros airport. Services to South Africa, the Seychelles and the Comoros have, for their part, returned to a level of activity comparable to or slightly higher than that before the health crisis. The recovery is slower in Madagascar, due to a decreasing supply of seats: the number of passengers between Reunion and the Big Island remains 15% lower than in 2019.
The only long-haul line departing from La Réunion-Roland Garros airport since the interruption of the connection to Chennai last May, the Saint-Denis – Bangkok connection, reopened in 2022, attracted nearly 34,000 passengers from January to August 2023: 21% better than in 2019.
17,000 tonnes of freight in eight months
In the field of freight, Réunion Roland Garros airport handled 17,073 tonnes of goods between January and August 2023: +2.5% compared to 2022, but 2.8% less than in 2019. Traffic on import (13,068 tonnes) increased by 5.6% compared to 2022 but fell by 2.2% compared to 2019. On exports, the drop is a little more marked: 4,005 tonnes processed, i.e. –6.4% compared to last year and –4.6% compared to 2019. This decline is mainly explained by the drop in pineapple shipments, due to the production difficulties encountered by this sector.
