According to Airports Council International (ACI) Europe air traffic grew by +40% in October compared to the same month last year across its European airport network. While domestic traffic is increasing a +12%, much of the growth is still largely driven by international passenger traffic (+51%).
When compared to pre-pandemic (October 2019) levels, passenger traffic in October stood at -12%. This marks the first time since last Spring that the recovery in monthly passenger traffic has stalled (September at -12%).
“October saw the recovery in passenger traffic take a pause – with only 36% of European airports having so far fully recovered their pre-pandemic volumes,” said Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe. “As most of these are regional and smaller airports, October also revealed a multi-speed and increasingly contrasted European airport market.”
He added that an array of factors are contributing to reshaping the market, ranging from the war in Ukraine and deteriorating macr0-economics to continued restrictions to parts of Asia, low-fare carriers selectively expanding within Europe, rising air fares and the rise of ‘bleisure’ extending tourism seasons.
“We have now entered the winter season and the big question mark is how these factors will interact and impact demand in the coming months,” he continued.
The outcome was positive for the EU+ market with passenger traffic at airports increasing by +50% in October compared to the same month last year. The best performances kept coming from airports in the UK (+98.3%), Finland (+89.8%) and Ireland (+86.8%) where the recovery of air traffic in these countries started later than in the rest of the EU+ bloc. Overall, the EU+ market stood at -12% in October compared to pre-pandemic (October 2019) volumes.
The performance of regional and smaller airports kept improving markedly – with these airports almost achieving a full passenger traffic recovery (-0.6% for airports with less than 10 million passengers per annum when compared to October 2019). Many of the smaller hubs recording growth put it down to their location as gateways to popular tourism destinations and their reliance on low-fare carriers. Passenger volumes at Trapani, Perugia, Zaragoza, Bourgas, Menorca, Funchal, Beauvais, Alghero, Zadar, Kos, Kerkyra, Turin, Dalaman and Charleroi all saw an increase in passenger numbers.
Passenger traffic at the majors (top 5 European Airports) grew by +52.5% in October compared to the same month last year. However, ACI’s traffic report also noted the major hubs did not progress further towards a full recovery with October passenger traffic volumes remaining at -17.2% below pre-pandemic (October 2019) levels (compared to -16.4% in September).
