Passenger traffic recovered to 95pc of pre-pandemic levels at Europe’s airports in 2023, according to airports body ACI Europe.
London-Heathrow reclaimed its position as Europe’s busiest airport in 2023, with 79.2m passengers and a significant increase of 28.5pc compared to 2022.
Istanbul came in second place with 76m passengers, showing the best performance among the top 5 airports when compared to pre-pandemic volumes, exceeding them by 11pc.
Paris-CDG held the third position with 67.4m passengers, experiencing a growth of 17.3pc compared to 2022 but still remaining 11.5pc below its pre-pandemic level.
Amsterdam-Schiphol followed with 61.9m passengers, showing a growth of 17.9pc compared to 2022 but a decline of 13.7pc compared to 2019.
Madrid handled 60.2m passengers, surpassing Frankfurt and reaching a level close to its pre-pandemic volume, thanks to its exposure to transatlantic and leisure traffic.
Smaller and regional airports experienced a recovery in 2023, with a 17.6pc increase in passenger traffic compared to the previous year and standing at 3pc above their pre-pandemic levels” Athens (+10.1pc), Lisbon (+7.9pc), Palma de Mallorca (+4.7pc), Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen (+4.6pc), Dublin (+1.8pc) and Paris-Orly (+1.4pc).
Rome-Fiumicino (-7pc) still remained below its pre-pandemic level, but saw passenger traffic increasing by +38pc year-on-year – the best performance amongst larger European airports.
Malaga with more than 22.3m passengers (+12.6pc) handled more passengers than Brussels (-15.8pc) and Stockholm-Arlanda (-15pc).
Unlike hubs and larger airports, smaller and regional airports6 completed their recovery in 2023 – with their passenger traffic increasing by +17.6pc compared to the previous year and thus standing at +3pc above their pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
This performance was largely driven by EU airports serving tourist destinations and/or attracting capacity from Low-Cost Carriers as well as airports in less mature markets in the rest of Europe.
Airports experiencing exponential growth well above their pre-pandemic (2019) levels – included: Trapani (+223pc), Perugia (+143pc), Tirana (+117pc), Samarkand (+110pc), Lodz (+97pc), Kutaisi (+91pc), Zadar (+88pc), Yerevan (+66pc), Memmingen (+64pc), Almaty (+51pc), Funchal (+43pc), Zaragoza (+47pc), Pristina (+44pc) and Oviedo-Asturias (+40pc).
- GROUP 1: Istanbul IST (+11.0pc), Athens ATH (+10.1pc), Lisbon LIS (+7.9pc), Palma de Mallorca PMI (+4.7pc), Istanbul SAW (+4.6pc).
- GROUP 2: Porto OPO (+16.0pc), Naples NAP (+14.1pc), Málaga AGP (+12.6pc), Tenerife TFS (+10.5pc), Marseille MRS (+6.4pc).
- GROUP 3: Sochi AER (+105.7pc), Almaty ALA (+51.2pc), Belgrade BEG (+29.0pc), Valencia VLC (+16.6pc), Palermo PMO (+15.5pc).
- GROUP 4: Tirana TIA (+117.4pc), Yerevan EVN (+65.6pc), Memmingen FMM (+64.2pc), Pristina PRN (+44.3pc), Funchal FNC (+43.1pc).
- GROUP 5: Trapani TPS (+223.4pc), Perugia PEG (+142.9pc), Samarkand SKD (+109.8pc), Kutaisi KUT (+91.1pc), Zadar ZAD (+88.3pc).
Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE said: “This robust growth resulted in Europe’s airports welcoming 2.3bn passengers through their doors last year – an impressive result considering the prevailing inflationary pressures and higher air fares as well as heightened geopolitical tensions. This is testament to the priority people give to travel over other forms of discretionary spending – and it does speak volumes about the value and importance of air connectivity.”
“2023 has also been a year of multi-speed recovery and great divergences for Europe’s airports in terms of passenger traffic. While many exceeded their previous yearly record in passenger volumes, 57pc still remained below their pre-pandemic volumes.”
“Geopolitical conflicts have been a significant contributor to this multi-speed recovery – predominantly affecting airports in Ukraine, Israel, Finland as well as in other Eastern European countries. But the Covid-19 induced structural changes in the aviation market are also having a major impact. These structural changes include the prominence of leisure, and VFR3 demand as well as the emergence of ‘bleisure’ demand, along with Ultra Low-Cost Carriers selectively expanding and Full Service Carriers retrenching on their hubs and driving consolidation. While these developments have generally benefitted airports in markets relying on inward tourism, there is no doubt they have also resulted in increased competitive pressures for airports across the board.”
“Looking ahead at 2024, we are likely to see these performance gaps amongst airports narrowing – but not closing, There is no doubt geopolitical tensions are part of our new reality, and so are structural changes in the aviation market. The big question marks will be about supply pressures and leisure demand resilience – with the latter unlikely to keep defying macroeconomics but becoming increasingly tied to them. We also need to keep a close eye on operational issues, especially border control with the planned start of the Schengen Entry-Exit System next autumn – for which many outstanding issues still need to be resolved. Accordingly, we are for now keeping our guidance for a +7.2pc increase in passenger traffic this year compared to 2023, which should lead us just +1.4pc above pre-pandemic volumes.”
