2024-03-21 16:46:15
Passenger traffic in the European airport network, fueled by international travel, is on track to fully return to pre-pandemic numbers.
Specifically, passenger traffic at European airports increased by 7% in January compared to the corresponding month of 2023, with the increase mainly attributed to international traffic, which increased by 8%, compared to domestic traffic which was at plus 2% compared to last year.
As a result, passenger traffic has come close to full recovery, significantly narrowing the gap to -3% compared to pre-pandemic numbers, with two Greek airports, those of Athens and Sitia, standing out for their results.
For the first time since 2019, international passenger traffic registered a full recovery, while domestic traffic continued to lag by 13% compared to January 2019. Airports within the European Union saw an 8% increase in passengers in January to compared to the same month last year.
Strong performances were recorded by the airports of Slovenia (29.8%), Czech Republic (28.9%), Malta (22.6%), Poland (18.9%) and Hungary (16.6%). On the contrary, the airports of Sweden (-1.3%) and the Netherlands (14.5%) recorded a negative sign, while growth was sluggish at the airports of Romania and Latvia (both at 1.3%) as and in those of France, Portugal and Norway (all at +1.7%).
Compared to pre-pandemic levels (January 2019), the EU market was at -4%, with airports that base their growth mainly on leisure travel far exceeding their pre-pandemic numbers. The gainers included Greece with an increase of 12.4%, while stronger performances were recorded by Malta (27%), Cyprus (21.6%), Poland (20.5%), Croatia (15.9%), Portugal (14 .8%) and Spain (12.7%). In contrast, the airports of Slovakia (-38.8%), Sweden (-29.2%), Slovenia (-27.5%), Finland (-24.2%) and Germany (‑23, 7%) remained far from full recovery.
According to the figures of the Airports International Council of Europe (ACI Europe), the decline in domestic passenger traffic at the airports of Germany (-50.9%), Sweden (-41.6%) and Finland (-31.5%) ), as well as those of France (-30.5%) and the United Kingdom (-21.6%) contributed significantly to the overall underperformance. At the other extreme were the airports of Spain (+12.9%), Portugal (+7.3%), Greece (+6.9%) and Italy (+1.3%) where domestic passenger traffic exceeded pre-pandemic levels, boosting their performance.
As for airports in the rest of Europe, they saw a 3% increase in passenger traffic in January compared to the same month last year.
Passenger traffic at Europe’s biggest airports rose 10.4% in January compared with the same month in 2023 due to strong transatlantic demand, the gradual return of Chinese travelers and airlines adding more seats. This resulted in an almost full recovery to -1.4% compared to January 2019.
Medium-sized airports recorded the best passenger traffic performance, with an average increase of 9.6% in January compared to the same period last year, while small airports, on the other hand, recorded a marginal -0.7% decline in passenger traffic in January, with their numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels at a rate of 31%.
As far as Greece is concerned, the International Airport of Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” and the airport of Sitia were included among the airports that recorded higher performances compared to 2019. Specifically, based on the data, the largest airport of the country recorded an increase of 15% in January compared to the pre-pandemic numbers, while that of Sitia increased by 87.5% compared to the corresponding month of 2019.
Source euro2day.gr