Aviation has been seriously affected by the corona pandemic. Booking travel for pleasure has not been an issue for over a year, only necessary travel is advised by our government. In the period from March 2020 to February 2021, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands, 14 million travelers flew to and from the five airports in the Netherlands. A year earlier, the number of travelers was 1 percent higher, a huge difference. The amount of goods transported in the period March 82,6 to February 2020 decreased by 2021 percent compared to a year earlier, this is a small difference compared to the number of travelers. The CO3,7 emissions from aviation were 2 percent lower last year compared to 49. The number of aircraft movements from 2019 thousand flights in 566 to 2019 thousand flights last year, which is a decrease of no less than 258 percent.
All these above figures are due to the consequences of the global corona pandemic and the associated temporary flight bans last year from risk countries such as: Italy, Iran, China, the Caribbean Netherlands and South Korea. This of course caused the number of air passengers to drop to a low point. In June last year, the flight bans to various countries were lifted, as a result of which the number of travelers to and from Dutch airports increased again. The first half of August last year was the busiest period since March last year. In December last year, stricter measures were again introduced, as a result of which the number of travelers decreased again in January and February of this year. The transport of goods by air has been less affected by the consequences of the corona pandemic. In the fourth quarter of 2020, 457 thousand tons of goods were transported by air, in the same quarter of 2019 this was 4,7 percent less. The figures of the CBS are not surprising, we can only hope for better times now.
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