The European aviation industry is in a “transition” phase as it emerges from Covid and settles into what Olivier Jankovec, director general of the European Region of the Airports Council International (ACI EUROPE), calls a “new normal”.
Speaking at Routes World 2023, Jankovec said last year the industry “turned a corner” with passengers doubling versus 2021.
However, that was still down 20% from pre-pandemic 2019 figures.
“Only 22% of airports in Europe recovered in 2022 to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.
“This year traffic is very good, we are getting very close to a full recovery.”
That is largely driven by low-cost carriers and intra-European markets.
“Airports in Portugal,Greece, Cyprus and Spain have already recovered, but you also have the impact of the war in Ukraine, which is impacting Finnish airports in particular.
“This is also giving a boost to some airports outside the EU, like Armenia and Uzbekistan.”
Passenger traffic across the European airport network in August stood at just -3.4% compared to pre-pandemic (August 2019), a similar level to the one achieved in the previous month (July 2023 at –3%).
When compared to August 2022, passenger volumes increased by +11.6%, with international passenger traffic (+13.2%) expanding at twice the rate of domestic passenger traffic (+6%).
ACI Europe has hnighlighted several structural changes to the martket.
One is the prominence of leisure travel and Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) demand, as well as the strength of international intra-European and transatlantic demand.
Both factors are driving the evolution of airlines’ route networks, to the benefit of airports serving popular tourism destinations or communities with extensive diasporas.
ACI also noted the expansion of Ultra-Low Cost Carriers and relative retrenchment of Full Service Carriers, with the notable exception of Turkish Airlines.
This tends to favour secondary and regional airports rather than larger hubs.
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