Paris airport traffic continues to recover

It's more than a symbol. Cn August and September, air traffic at Paris's two airports finally topped the 50% mark in terms of passenger volume. compared with the last 'normal' traffic year, i.e. 2019. The Paris hubs have come a long way. In Marchthe volume of traffic handled in relation to 2019 was only 15,4%. At Junehe languished in 28,8% of the figures recorded for the same month in 2019. For the moment, it's August recorded the best performance with 55.7% of 2019 traffic. Whereas September was 50.1%.

In detail, one very positive figure is the upturn in the average aircraft load factor. In September, it reached 74.5%, an increase of 17.5 points. Since the beginning of the year, the average load factor has been 67.2%.

One third of 2019 passenger traffic by the end of September

Over the first nine months of the year, traffic is still down on the figures for 2020. But remember that January and February 2020 were still normal months in terms of traffic. Orly and Roissy therefore welcomed 26,31 million passengers from January to September, a decline of 5.5 % compared with 2020. Over a sliding year - October 2020 to September 2021 - the fall is still 40.7%. For the record, the two airports had already welcomed 82.69 million passengers by the end of September 2019.

" Traffic is picking up, but we don't expect to return to our pre-Covid volumes before 2024 at the earliest, or 2027 at the latest." explained an Aéroports de Paris spokesperson. This explains why the airport operator continues to welcome all airlines only at CDG 2Terminals 1 and 3 remain closed until further notice. For its part Orly terminals are fully operational as before the crisis - with the exception of one pier at Orly 1, which is still closed. The southern Paris hub welcomed 10.18 million passengers between January and Septemberan increase of 19% compared with 2019. This performance is due to the high volume of domestic and intra-European routes. 

In fact, these two geographical segments currently account for most of the traffic volume. French domestic traffic accounted for 19.6% of total passenger volume in September. And even 21.7% of all passengers in the first nine months of the year. Europe posted a rate of 47.7% and 41.6% respectively..

Intercontinental traffic represents only 32.7% of all passenger traffic in September 2021 and 36.7% of all traffic from January to September.

A recovery confirmed by the return of North Atlantic traffic

It has to be said that traffic to Asia and Latin America remains anaemic, representing respectively 1.6% and 2.2% of total passengers over the first nine months. But the reopening of the United States, which follows that of Canada in September, should lead to a strong recovery in air traffic on the North Atlantic. in the next few months. However, the operator remains cautious about the prospects for passenger growth to Asia and Latin America.. The reopening of borders has been slower, although countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile in Latin America, and Thailand and Singapore in Asia, have announced that they are once again allowing foreign tourists.

The resumption of intercontinental routes would also boost the number of connecting passengers. It totalled 9.23 million passengers in the first nine months of 2019. It flirted with the 2.96 million passengers at the end of September.

Breakdown of traffic at Paris CDG and Orly airports

(Source: Aéroports de Paris)