Passenger traffic across the European airport network in May reported an average increase +3.6%. This growth is entirely attributable to the EU market, with airports in the bloc reporting passenger traffic growth of +5.5% – while the non-EU market saw traffic dropping by -2.5%, the first decline in traffic growth for these airports since 2009.
BRUSSELS – European airport trade association, ACI Europe released its traffic report for May 2016. This is the only air transport report which includes all types of civil aviation passenger flights to and from Europe: full service, low cost, charter and others.
Passenger traffic across the European airport network in May reported an average increase +3.6%. This growth is entirely attributable to the EU market, with airports in the bloc reporting passenger traffic growth of +5.5% – while the non-EU market saw traffic dropping by -2.5%, the first decline in traffic growth for these airports since 2009.
Aircraft movements were up +3.1% across Europe – pointing to continued airline capacity expansion.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI Europe said “Declining passenger traffic in Russia and Turkey is now weighing down on the overall performance of European airports – here we clearly see the impact of increasing geopolitical and terrorist risks. Some of the leisure demand is shifting towards the EU market – contributing to boosting EU passenger traffic performance for airports in Portugal, Spain and Cyprus in particular – and baseline fundamentals generally remain positive for EU airports on the back of improving economic conditions and affordable prices for oil. Airports in Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania all registered double digit growth in May. Conversely, there is significant weakness in other parts of the EU – especially Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.”
He added “The recent Brexit vote is mainly about medium to long-term risks concerning the integrity of the European single aviation market. We do not expect it to have a significant impact on overall European air traffic levels this summer. However, the political instability and uncertainty it has created in the UK and beyond, is already hurting business confidence and might end up doing the same for consumer confidence – this could affect demand for air transport later in the year.”
Breakadown by Traffic Category
During the month of May, airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3) and airports welcoming less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported an average adjustment +0.7%, +5.5%, +9.7% and +3.7%.
The airports which reported the highest increases in passenger traffic during May 2016 (compared with May 2015) are as follows:
- GROUP 1: Barcelona El-Prat (+12.3%), Dublin (+11.6%), Copenhagen (+10.8%), Istanbul SAW (+10.6%), Rome FCO (+7.7%)
- GROUP 2: Gran Canaria (+18.5%), Cologne-Bonn (+13.9%), Budapest (+13.5%), Tel Aviv (+12.9%) and Malaga (+12.2%)
- GROUP 3: Berlin SXF (+43.0%), Larnaca (+27.0%), Ibiza (+20.8%), Bucharest OTP (+18.9%) and Porto (+16.6%)
- GROUP 4: Oradea (+22,417.7%), Palanga (+97.7%), Kharkiv (+56.0%), Ohrid (+44.6%) and Bourgas (+40.4%)
The 'ACI Europe Airport Traffic Report – May 2016’ includes 215 airports in total representing more than 88% of European air passenger traffic.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
