EU airlines excluded from the surge in Europe-Asia traffic according to Eurocontrol

Eurocontrol has just published the figures for aircraft movements from Europe (including the European Union, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom). Traffic flows were up to all regions of the world except two: the Middle East (-3%) and "Other Europe" (-65%).. The latter includes Russia, Ukraine and Belarus...

Growth at several speeds

The number of daily flights to Asia-Pacific saw remarkable growth in 2024. Eurocontrol records 858 daily flights between the two continents. i.e. growth in traffic of 21 % compared with 2023 and 8 % compared with 2019.

However, this figure is misleading, as growth has not been the same for all airlines flying to Asia. The closure of Russian airspace to countries supporting Ukraine in the war has led to increased costs and itinerary adjustments for airlines from these countries. European Union airlines in particular.

While Eurocontrol notes an increase of 19% compared with 2019 in the number of flights by airlines authorised to overfly Russia, the organisation records a fall of 18% for companies subject to overflight bans. As a result, their 9% lower market share for passenger trafficcompared with 2019.

In 2024, compared with 2019, Eurocontrol reports that Finnair has lost 12 daily frequencies and Lufthansa 9.. European airlines particularly affected include British Airways (down 7), Air France and KLM (both down 6). Cathay Pacific also saw the number of its daily flights fall by 12, due to the slow reopening of Hong Kong and the resumption of travel.

Turkish Airlines, the big winner on the Europe-Asia route

This decline mainly benefited Turkish Airlines, companies in Central Asia and India which have capitalised on connecting traffic. Turkish Airlines is the big winner. The airline is offering 26 more daily flights to Asia than in 2019.

Azebaijan Airlines, Pegasus (Turkey) and Vistara (India) offer, 8 more flights than in 2019, Uzbekistan Airways 7, IndiGo 5 and Air India 4. Eurocontrol notes that the airlines authorised to fly over Russia are outstripping the banned airlines in terms of market share. Last year, they accounted for 63% of all flights between Europe and Asia-Pacific. This compares with 56% in 2019. In view of the geopolitical tensions in Europe, this situation is unlikely to change by 2025.

Number of daily flights from Europe by country (Source: Eurocontrol)