European airport traffic exceeds pre-Covid-19 levels

The airports association ACI Europe said that the “sector has now turned the page” on the health crisis.

European airports announced on Wednesday 31 July that they had exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels of passenger numbers in the first half of the year. Due to a 9% increase in the number of passengers over the year, between January and June, airport traffic increased by 0.4% compared to the same period in 2019, according to the airports association ACI Europe.

ACI Europe’s statistics include Turkey, Israel, Russia and even Central Asia, which covers 500 airports in 55 countries in total. But even in the area comprising the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, traffic recovered to 2019 levels in the first half of the year, the association noted.

ACI Europe considered that the “sector has now turned the page” of the health crisis. However, she stressed that the recovery does not affect all companies and airports in the same way. Since the pandemic, leisure and family travel have been booming, despite the impact of this mode of transport on global warming. This is fueling the dynamism of low-cost companies and holiday destinations, while other platforms and carriers, more oriented towards domestic or business travel, are suffering in comparison.

In June alone, the volume of air passengers in Albania increased by 243% compared to the same month in 2019. Polish airports recorded an increase of 24.5% in June compared to the same month five years ago, Greece an increase of 23.9%, Malta 19.1% and Portugal 14.2%. On the other hand, Finland (-26.4%), Slovenia (-21.5%), Bulgaria (-20.5%) and Sweden (-19.4%) “are the furthest from a full recovery”noted ACI Europe. Germany (-17%), France (-4%) and the United Kingdom (-1.1%) also lag behind.