Airport trade body ACI EUROPE has published its latest traffic report for January 2024, showing international passenger volumes reaching 2019 levels for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Passenger traffic in the European airport network increased by 7 percent in January 2024 compared to the same month in 2023.
This was mainly due to international passenger volumes, which made a full recovery from pre-pandemic numbers, while domestic traffic remained 13 percent below 2019 levels.
Traffic at the region's main airports (those with more than 40 million annual passengers) increased by 8.3 percent compared to January 2023, driven by strong transatlantic demand, the progressive return of Chinese travelers and the network airlines adding more capacity.
ACI EUROPE said London Heathrow remained the busiest European airport in January, just 8,000 passengers ahead of Istanbul airport.
Heathrow aims for record 81.4 million passengers in 2024while Istanbul aims to reach 85 million passengers this year.
Istanbul airport aims for 85 million passengers in 2024
Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE, commented on the news:
“Overall, the recovery in passenger traffic continued in January, with further growth over the past year, and international passenger traffic finally returned to its pre-pandemic levels after five years.
“Overall, demand remained resilient amid the significant increase in airfares, despite growth dynamics slowing or even stagnating in some markets.
“This is adding further divergence to an already highly fragmented airport market, where geopolitics and structural changes in the aviation market – including the primacy of leisure demand and the selective expansion of low-cost airlines – are shaping the traffic performance like never before.
Looking ahead to the coming months, macroeconomic conditions will improve in the EU and the UK in particular, with further falls in inflation and real wage growth. Combined with consumers prioritizing experiences and leisure, this should support continued growth in demand for air travel, with headwinds still coming primarily from supply pressures and rising airfares, as well as geopolitics.”
aci-europe.org
