European airports received over 2.5 billion passengers in 2024, surpassing the pre-pandemic levels after a period of five years, says a report by ACI Europe, an association of airports across European continent.

According to a press statement by ACI Europe, the 2024 traffic report confirms that Europe’s airports finally surpassed 2019 passenger volumes last year as passenger traffic across the European airport network in 2024 increased by 7.4 pc when compared to the preceding year, finishing 1.8 pc above pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

ACI Europe adds that the growth dynamic in 2024 was mostly driven by international passenger traffic, which rose 8.8 pc over 2023, rather than domestic passenger traffic, which rose at a lower rate of 2.5 pc 2023, but remained 6.3 pc below pre-pandemic levels.

The report adds that the growth more pronounced in the first half of the year, when traffic grew by 8.9 pc as against only 6 pc in second half as well as during off-peak months traditionally associated with lower traffic.

The report adds that the traffic reflects structural aviation market changes, including a partial modal shift to rail, strong cross-border mobility within the EU Single Market, and fast-growing demand in emerging markets outside the EU.

“Europe’s airports welcomed an additional 200 million passengers last year, with many surpassing their previous historic records. This was achieved despite much inflated air fares, continued supply pressures, mostly tepid economic growth and geopolitical tensions. That clearly speaks volumes about how consumers are now prioritising experiences and travel in particular,” says Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI Europe.

Olivier Jankovec

“But 2024 also confirmed major structural post-Covid shifts, with leisure and Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) demand and Low-Cost Carriers largely defining traffic performance, along with airline consolidation, changing air connectivity dynamics and geopolitics. This means that beyond our positive headline results, nearly half of Europe’s airports remained below their pre-pandemic traffic levels last year. We are now in a multi-speed European airport market where competitive pressures just keep rising,” he adds.

“Looking at the months ahead, we expect demand for air travel to remain resilient, defying fragile consumer confidence and generally sluggish European economies. We are thus forecasting a 4 pc growth in passenger traffic for 2025, but we will need to keep that forecast under review, considering the overwhelming global political and economic uncertainties. For now, downside traffic risks mainly relate to airlines’ fleet management woes, ATM capacity shortages, ill-advised aviation policies, and, of course, geopolitics,” says Jankovec.

Multi-speed European airports

The report adds that the growth across Europe was varying and that the best performing markets were those in the Eastern part of the bloc, where the propensity to fly keeps converging with more mature markets, as well as those in the South relying on inbound tourism as  Hungary and Czechia, grew by 18.9 pc, Estonia at 18 pc, Poland at 15.6 pc and Malta at 14.8 pc.

It adds that amongst the largest aviation markets, Türkiye, with a growth of 23.1 pc, Italy with 17 pc and Spain with 13 pc were well above their pre-pandemic levels, unlike the United Kingdom, which was marginally below 2019 levels at 0.1 pc, while France was 3 pc lower and Germany a much sharper 16.6 pc.

It adds that London Heathrow retained its position as Europe’s busiest airport in 2024, receiving 83.9 million passengers. This represented an increase of 5.9 pc over the previous year, allowing the British hub to surpass its pre-pandemic (2019) levels by 3.7 pc.

Istanbul came second with 80.1 million passengers. While its growth somewhat moderated in 2024 compared to the preceding year due to engine maintenance issues at its hub carrier, the Turkish hub’s passenger traffic stood at an impressive 16.9 pc above its pre-pandemic levels.

Paris Charles de Gaulle held the third position with 70.3 million passengers. The French hub faced headwinds with the Olympic Games limiting traffic growth at 4.3 pc over 2023 and remained at 7.7 pc below pre-pandemic levels.