ACI EUROPE has published its latest figures, showing an increase in passenger traffic across the European airport network of 8.5 percent in April compared to the same month last year.
Volumes were just 0.2 percent below pre-pandemic levels or, as ACI put it, “a hair's breadth away from full recovery.”
In March, the association, which represents more than 500 airports in 55 countries, published data showing international passenger volumes had reached pre-Covid levels, with domestic traffic still lagging behind.
International passenger traffic at European airports reaches pre-pandemic levels
Heathrow remained the busiest European airport, with traffic increasing by 4.8 percent in April 2023 and only 1.4 percent less than in April 2019.
Central London was followed by Istanbul Airport, which recorded an increase in passenger traffic of 10.5 percent compared to last year and 22.4 percent compared to April 2019.
Paris CDG took third place, although its passenger traffic was still 11.5 percent lower than in April 2019, and Amsterdam Schiphol took fourth place, with traffic down 10.4 percent from pre-Covid levels.
Madrid Barajas rounded out the top five, with traffic increasing by 10.6 percent in April 2023 and 6.7 percent in April 2019.
Overall traffic at Europe's major airports (those serving more than 40 million passengers a year) was down just 1.6 percent from pre-pandemic levels.
This compares with figures for small airports (those that handle between 1,000 and one million passengers per year), which remained 31.5 percent lower in April 2019.
Several European airports are forecasting record traffic figures for 2024, with Heathrow expecting to welcome 82.4 million passengers this year.
Heathrow increases traffic forecast for 2024 to 82.4 million
At the beginning of this year Istanbul Airport said it was targeting 85 million passengers in 2024compared to 76 million last year.
aci-europe.org
