Europe’s airports welcomed 5.5% more passengers during S1

European airport trade body ACI EUROPE today (6 August) released its traffic report for the first half of 2014. The report is the only air transport report which includes the full range of civil aviation passenger flights: network, low cost, charter and others.

From January to end June this year, passenger traffic at Europe’s airport grew by +5.5%. More specifically, passenger growth at airports in the EU reported a good result of +4.5% year-on-year - a positive reflection of the return of economic growth of the block. At non-EU airports in Europe (including Iceland, Israel, Norway, Russia, Switzerland & Turkey), passenger traffic grew by +8.7% over the same period.

Meanwhile, freight traffic - a universally acknowledged bellwether of economic performance - reported robust growth of +4.6%. Finally, the growth in aircraft movements (+2.9%) points to a welcome increase in airline capacity.

ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec said: “These first half year results are not only reflecting much improved economic conditions across Europe, they are also showing demand for air transport bucking macro-economic indicators - especially in the passenger segment. This is good news for our industry, even though traffic growth is becoming more concentrated on the back of constantly evolving market dynamics and increasing airport competition.”

He added: “Looking at the second half of 2014, there are significant uncertainties not just for the European economy but also at global level. Geopolitical risks in Europe and nearby are probably at their highest in years. All this requires a great deal of caution, and keeping the same kind of traffic performance will definitely not be a given.”

During the first half of the year, 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 +4.8%, +7.8%, +2.8% and +6.1%.

The summer season has started promisingly, with passenger traffic during the month of June reporting an increase of +6.1% (EU: +5.3%; non-EU: +8.4%). However, freight growth dipped disappointingly to only +1.2%, while movements registered an increase of +3.4%.

For the month of June, the airports that reported the highest increases in passenger traffic are as follows:

GROUP 1:     Moscow DME (+12.8%), Istanbul IST (+9.5%),

Antalya AYT (+7.6%), Rome FCO (+6.8%) & Barcelona BCN (+6.4%)

GROUP 2:     Istanbul SAW (+26.5%), Athens (+22.3%),

Tel Aviv (+17.0%), Brussels (+15.6%) and Lisbon (+13.5%)

GROUP 3:     Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (+13.6%), Porto (+11.2%), Lanzarote (+10.9%), Bucharest OTP (+10.7%), Berlin SXF (+9.9%),

GROUP 4:     Kiruna (+55.1%), Mykonos (+41.7%), Visby (+37.0%),

Chisinau (+32.6%), Belgrade (+28.8%)

The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report – June, Q2 & S1 2014’ includes 208 airports in total representing approximately more than 88% of European air passenger traffic.

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