Europe’s air traffic continues ‘upward’ trend – ACI Europe

Traffic at Europe’s airports continued on an “upward trajectory” in October, as passenger numbers rose by 5.5 per cent compared with the same month in 2023.

Figures from European airport association ACI Europe show that passenger growth in October was “in line” with increases seen during September. Traffic was also 3.3 per cent higher than in the pre-Covid month of October 2019.

ACI Europe said that the growth in air travellers was “driven” by strong international traffic, which rose by 7.1 per cent year-on-year in October. This compares to a flat market for domestic air travel across Europe.

Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe, said October’s figures were a continuation of a “positive trend we have seen throughout 2024”.

“This also reflects strong demand resilience, despite airfares having increased on average by 30 per cent this year compared to pre-Covid, softening economic sentiment and increasing geopolitical tensions,” he added.

“While Europe’s airport network as a whole has now exceeded pre-pandemic traffic levels, the reality remains that 45 per cent of them still remain below such levels in October — with performance diverging widely across both national markets and the different segments of our industry.”

Jankovec said this divergence in performance was being caused by a combination of “supply pressures, geopolitics and the new post-pandemic aviation market reality”.

ACI Europe said that Germany remained the “furthest from pre-pandemic recovery”, with October’s traffic still down by 12.1 per cent compared with October 2019. Although passenger numbers increased by 4.1 per cent year-on-year during the month at German airports.

The association said Germany’s sluggish recovery was “in great part due to ill-advised national aviation policies, especially as regards taxation, which have constrained market recovery and air connectivity developments”.

The impact of conflicts on air travel in Israel is also laid bare by ACI Europe’s figures, which showed a 7.2 per cent decline on October 2023’s traffic and a 52.6 per cent drop in passengers compared with October 2019.

In the major hub market, London Heathrow remained Europe’s busiest airport followed by Istanbul and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Traffic at Germany’s main hub Frankfurt saw “minimal growth” in October.

Elsewhere in Europe, airports such as Budapest, Prague, Milan Malpensa and Athens all recorded double digit year-on-year percentage growth during October.