L'ACI Europethe trade association for European airports, has published its air traffic report for June and the first half of 2024. It shows that the continent's airports have finally put the trauma of Covid behind them.
Passenger traffic at European airports increased by +9% in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2023, according to ACI Europe. International traffic was the main driver, with growth of +10.3 %. This traffic is growing twice as fast as on domestic routes, at +4.2 %.
Better results at last than before Covid
Passenger numbers finally exceeded first-half 2019 figures by 0.4 %. This confirms that the airport industry has finally fully recovered from the Covid pandemic.
Olivier Jankovec, Managing Director of theACI Europestates: " Passenger traffic having finally exceeded 2019 levels over a full six-month period, our industry has now turned the page on the pandemic. But beyond these figures, the European airport market has become extremely fragmented in terms of traffic performance - with only 53% airports returning to pre-pandemic passenger volumes in June. This reflects structural changes both in terms of demand and supply". "Leisure passengers and very low-cost carriers, as well as Turkish Airlines, are the main drivers of growth." he adds.
EU+ airports (Norway, United Kingdom and Switzerland) saw their passenger traffic increase by +9.5 1Q3T in the first half of the year by compared with the same period last year, returning to pre-pandemic levels (0 %).
Paris-CDG posts worst performance of Europe's top 5
Europe's top 5 airports welcomed a total of 174.6 million passengers in the first half, up 8% compared with 2023 and +2% compared with their pre-pandemic levels.
London Heathrow remains Europe's busiest airport, with 39.8 million passengers in the first half of the year (+7.4% compared with 2023 and +2.8% compared with 2019). It is followed by Istanbul which welcomed 38.1 million passengers (+6.9% compared with 2023 and +18.1% compared with 2019).
Paris-CDG ranks 3rd with 33.2 million passengers. If traffic at the Paris hub increases by 4.4% between the first halves of 2023 and 2024, it is likely that the Group will be able to maintain its growth momentum, passenger numbers at CDG are still 8.7% lower than in 2019. Amsterdam Schiphol with 31.8 million passengers (+11% compared with 2023; -7.9% compared with 2019) and Madrid with 31.7 million passengers (+11.3% compared with 2023; +8.3% compared with 2019) are close behind.
Beauvais tops the list of low-cost airports
Among the other major airports, the best first-half performances in Europe came from Rome-Fiumicino which saw passenger numbers increase by an impressive +26% compared with the same period last year (+9. 8% vs H1 2019), as well as Athens (+16.1% compared with 2023 and +24.5% compared with 2019).
ACI Europe states that Beauvais stands out among low-cost airports with a remarkable performance in the first half of the year. Between 2023 and 2024, Picardy airport will see its passenger traffic increase by 18.8%. And even by 62.4% compared with the first half of 2019. In the French-speaking world, the airport of Charleroi is also up by almost 11% compared with the first half of 2023, and by 25.9% compared with the first half of 2019.
The other way round, traffic at small airports slowsMany routes have been withdrawn or transferred to rail. These airports, which handle up to one million passengers, saw their passenger numbers increase by 5.7% from one half-year to the next. But with a performance that is still nearly 36% lower than that of the previous year. to pre-pandemic levels.
Good prospects for the rest of the year
Looking ahead to the third quarter and beyond, Olivier Jankovec is optimistic. " We're gearing up for our best ever summer in terms of passenger trafficThis is despite recurring shortages of air traffic management capacity and delays in aircraft deliveries, which are weighing on traffic. What happens next will largely depend on the ability of demand to hold up in the autumn".
However, ACI Europe's Director General warns against this. "For the time being, what's keeping us awake is whether the Schengen States will be effectively ready for the European Union entry/exit system to come into operationscheduled for next November. If this is not the case, we risk facing major disruption." he says.
