The first major wave of travel of the year began at the Leipzig/Halle and Dresden locations over the Easter weekend in 2026.
A total of 86 passenger planes departed from the two Saxon airports between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, transporting holidaymakers to their Easter break. While Leipzig/Halle Airport handled the majority of tourist traffic with 57 departures, Dresden Airport supplemented the service with 29. The flight schedule primarily focused on warm-water destinations in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Canary Islands, but also increasingly served major European cities and important international air traffic hubs.
At Leipzig/Halle Airport, the majority of the 43 holiday flights were to Antalya, Mallorca, and Hurghada. Twelve flights departed for Antalya alone on the opening day, while Mallorca and Hurghada in Egypt were each served nine times. The tourist portfolio was complemented by connections to Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, and Greek destinations such as Crete and Rhodes. In addition to charter flights, 14 scheduled flights ensured connections to the global route network. Lufthansa deserves special mention, offering ten connections to its hub in Frankfurt, while Austrian Airlines and Turkish Airlines served Vienna and Istanbul, respectively.
At the start of the school holidays, 21 scheduled flights and eight charter flights departed from Dresden Airport. Skyalps dominated with a special connection to Bolzano in South Tyrol, while Antalya led the classic holiday segment with six departures. Connections to the international air network from Dresden were primarily via the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, served by Lufthansa a total of 18 times. Swiss also provided two connections to Zurich. These feeder flights gave travelers from the region access to numerous long-haul destinations on other continents.
Current traffic trends at the Central German airports underscore the economic importance of the regional air transport infrastructure for the tourism sector in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Experts have observed that despite rising operating costs, demand for air travel remained stable during the Easter period. To ensure the smooth handling of the 86 aircraft, additional ground handling and security capacity was provided at both airports. The high aircraft occupancy at the start of the holidays indicates a successful spring season for the participating airlines and tour operators.