War does not stop air traffic in Italia: more flights also in April
In contrast to Italia, the European Union saw a drop in commercial flights in April (about 5,000 fewer)
by Lorenzo Pace
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Key points
While waiting to see if the summer can be considered 'normal' for those who want to travel - even if, at the moment, paraffin supplies from the Middle East are at a standstill due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz - air traffic has not stopped in recent weeks. On the contrary, it has increased: in April, according to Eurostat, there were 119,792 flights in Italia, an increase over both March (102,038) and the same month in previous years.
Almost two thousand more flights than a year ago
In fact, comparisons must be made between the same time frames. Also because, every year, the number of departures starts to rise in April, both in Italia and in Europe, reaching peaks in July and August. The figure for 2026 (119,792 precisely) is higher than that for 2025 (118,017), 2024 (112,115), 2023 (99,617), 2022 (90,705) and, in addition to the Covid parenthesis (about 30,000 flights adding up April 2021 and April 2020), also pre-pandemic (103,890 flights in April 2019).
Italy going against the trend
Clearly, a good percentage of last month's flights were booked in advance, therefore before the escalation in the Middle East and above all before people started talking about the consequences for air traffic. The Italian data, however, are in contrast with those of many similar countries (such as Germany and France) and in general with the EU average. Among the Twenty-Seven, in fact, there has been a drop of over five thousand flights (from 574,349 in 2025 to 569,112 this year).
A special case in point is Spain. Air traffic skyrocketed last month to 162,087 departures (in 2025 there were 155,837). The Iberian country, with its eight paraffin refineries, is among the least exposed to the shock from the Gulf countries.
The situation for the coming months
The same cannot be said for other European countries. The situation is at risk, with several companies (including Ryanair) already announcing that they will have to cut flights as early as the end of May. The EU, in fact, has temporarily authorised the use of American fuel (Jet A), also in view of the demand for summer travel. In July and August 2025, in fact, there were more than 690,000 commercial flights in Europe.
