According to theACI airport associationtotal growth in passenger numbers was 2.2% in July in Europe, marking the smallest increase in traffic since the start of the year. In June, traffic had still risen by 4.7%. An even more revealing indicator of economic activity, freight traffic fell by a further 2.3% in July, marking its ninth consecutive month of decline.
For Olivier JankovecACI Europe's Director General, there are multiple factors to explain this decline. Not only has the economic and political climate taken a turn for the worse, but ACI has also identified a number of factors that have contributed to the downturn. structural weaknesses in the continent's air traffic management system and refers to theBoeing 737MAX aircraft grounded - which has resulted in flight cancellations at de numerous carriers - as well as delays in aircraft deliveries.
" The fact that the slowdown is affecting domestic traffic from the various European countries in particular (-1.5%) would indicate the emergence of a change in passenger attitudes towards air transport linked to climate risks. "says Olivier Jankovec.
The strongest growth in passenger traffic in Europe was recorded in Austria, Latvia, Portugal and Finland, while Bulgaria, Slovakia, Sweden and Lithuania saw the biggest falls. The main European markets, such as Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, saw sluggish growth or stagnation in traffic.
Satisfactory results in France
La France is doing rather well, with an increase in traffic of 3.2% in July for all its airports, although domestic traffic is marking time with a timid increase of 0.3%. Paris-region routes were also down by 2.1%, confirming the analysis of the Director of ACI Europe.
The most dynamic airports in July were Vienna, Riga, Milan-Malpensa, Lisbon and Madrid. All these airports recorded passenger growth rates of between 7% and 16%. Outside the EU, Iceland saw the sharpest fall in traffic, down by almost 30%, as a result of the long-haul low-cost airline goes bankrupt Wow Air.
In the end, Paris is not doing so badly. Passenger traffic at Paris-CDG even recorded the strongest growth of Europe's five biggest hubs. In July it was up by 3.8%, well ahead of Frankfurt (+0.9%), Amsterdam (-0.7%), London-Heathrow (-0.8%) and Istanbul (-2.1%).
Among the French airports posting excellent results, ACI Europe notes that passenger traffic at Nantes was up 16.4% while Bordeaux rose by 13.4%. Marseille and Lyon also performed well, with increases in passenger traffic of 8.7% and 7.5% respectively in July. On the other hand, Toulouse had a mediocre month, with traffic down 3.5%, as did Orly which was down 4.2% in July. From January to July, Toulouse was flat, with passenger traffic down by 0.1%, while Orly saw a fall of 0.8%.
