International air traffic grew by 32.2 pc, almost twice as fast as domestic air traffic that rose by 16.6 pc
The European air travel has continued to progress towards 2019 peaks in the first half of the current year. According to a report by the association of European airports, the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), passenger volumes rose 28.3 pc in the period January-June 2023, compared to the same period in 2022.
A press statement by ACI Europe says that international air traffic grew by 32.2 pc, almost twice as fast as domestic air traffic that rose by 16.6 pc. In January 2023, the gap with passenger traffic levels in January 2019 stood at 11 pc and by June, it had fallen almost by half to 5.9 pc, says ACI Europe.
Olivier Jankovec
“Passenger traffic has rebounded over the past six months, getting ever closer to a full recovery. However, 2023 is not 2019. There are significant variations in performance across national markets, and volumes still remain below their pre-pandemic levels for more than half or 52 pc of Europe’s airports. Apart from the lasting impact of the war in Ukraine on some markets, this is largely due to recovery patterns becoming structural. These include the impressive yet selective expansion of Ultra-Low Cost Carriers and relative retrenchment of Full Service Carriers along with the prominence of leisure and VFR demand as well as some domestic traffic shifting to other transport modes,” says Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe.
“So far, demand has remained extremely resilient in the face of lasting inflationary pressures and record increases in airfares since the beginning of the year. But, looking ahead and past the peak Summer months, we do see significant downside risks and much uncertainty. These include the prospect of deteriorating macroeconomics for the Eurozone and the UK as well as initial signals that discretionary spending might start decreasing and that pandemic‑savings buffers are exhausted,” adds Jankovec.
Performance gaps amongst national markets
ACI Europe says that in June, the best passenger traffic performances, compared to 2019 level, in the EU+ market came from airports in Greece, that grew 14.2 pc above the 2019 peak, Iceland at 9.3 pc and Luxembourg at 8.7 pc over the peak in 2019.
However, airports in many EU nations remained far behind 2019 levels, such as Finland (-32.2 pc), Slovenia (-31.9 pc) and Germany (-21.7 pc). Passenger traffic at the Top 5 European airports in H1 remained at 8.9 pc below their pre-pandemic levels.
