L'EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse saw its traffic severely affected by the pandemic. According to the airport's management, traffic levels at the airport last year were comparable to those recorded in the previous year. 1997.
In 2020, 2.6 million passengers flights passed through the Franco-Swiss airport, a fall of 71%. The flight load factor fell by more than twenty points to 62%, while the number of regular companies went from 25 à 13.
"Even at the height of the crisis that marked the demise of Swissair, we had never recorded such a decline," notes Mathias Suhr, Managing Director of EuroAirport.
The year 2001 saw the disappearance of the company Swissair then Crossairwhich came to the rescue of the Swiss national carrier. At the time, Crossair was the main carrier in Basel, with a hub serving sixty cities. Traffic at the Franco-Swiss hub lost 40% of passengers between 2001 and 2003.
2020 was exceptional in every respect. For example, it has turned traditional traffic flows on their head.
The top 5 busiest destinations in 2019 were London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Istanbul and Barcelona. Last year, Pristina and Istanbul attracted the most passengers, well ahead of London, Amsterdam and Berlin. "The rise in popularity of Pristina and Istanbul is due to the low restrictions imposed on travellers and to a very large ethnic market in the region," explains Frédéric Velter, Deputy Managing Director of EuroAirport.
However, there are a number of reasons for this, Easyjet retains top spot with 58% market share -down two points, followed by Wizz Air. The latter is up four points with a market share of 11.7%.
No visibility for the future
This time, the crisis is deeper and, above all, a recovery is still a long way off, according to the company's directors. "Air travel will recover, but behaviour will change. It will take longer, for example, for business travel to pick up again", says the airport management.
According to Matthias Suhr, it is in fact virtually impossible to predict a recovery. "There is a total lack of visibility. That's why we're working on three passenger traffic scenarios. They range from three and five million passengers by 2021. And they depend on the reduction in restrictions and the speed of vaccination".
EuroAirport therefore expects extremely low passenger traffic at first quarterFebruary is shaping up to be one of the most difficult months.
On the other hand, the fall in traffic is having an effect on the airport's investments. Visit the terminal modernisation project was suspended last DecemberAn increase in capacity now seems surreal.
On the other hand, the line planning and railway station on the airport is not called into question. But it is true that the project to connect the airport to the regional rail networks in Alsace and Basel is more than a decade behind schedule...
