European airports traffic almost doubles year-on-year but still lags behind 2019 (updated)

Flughafen Wien AG

07/02/2023 09:33

(Adds details, quotes)
       Feb 7 (Reuters) - Traffic at European airports almost
doubled year-on-year in 2022 but remained below pre-COVID
levels, Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) said
on Tuesday.
    Last year's traffic jumped 98% compared with 2021 to 1.94
billion passengers but was still 21% below the levels seen in
2019, before the pandemic, with just 27% of the continent's
airports having fully recovered, the trade association which
represents over 500 airports in 55 countries, added.
    "This is not yet a full recovery. Europe's airports were
still short 500 million passengers in 2022 compared to where
they stood before the pandemic hit," Olivier Jankovec, ACI's
Director General, said in a statement. 
    He added that despite this year's uncertainty over the war
in Ukraine and supply pressures from airlines' capacity
reductions during the pandemic, the traffic outlook is getting
better, with demand headwinds "easing somewhat" with China's
reopening, subsiding recession fears in Europe and softening
inflation.
    Among the five busiest airports in Europe - the majors, with
traffic rising 114% but falling 22.6% short of 2019 levels - 
the association cites Istanbul, London Heathrow, Paris Charles
De Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid, marking a change from
2021 when the top five was dominated by Turkey and Russia.
    Amongst those having fully recovered their 2019 volumes, 90%
were smaller and regional airports, ACI said, thanks to leisure
demand, low-cost carriers driving performance and limited or no
exposure to Asia, whereas the airports in Kazakhstan and Armenia
benefited from an influx of traffic from Russia.
 (Reporting by Olivier Sorgho and Piotr Lipinski; Editing by
Andrew Heavens and Louise Heavens)
 ((Olivier.Sorgho@thomsonreuters.com))