Passenger traffic across European airports has increased by 4.6pc in January 2026 compared with January 2025.
Non-EU+1 markets grew by 8.8pc while EU+2 markets expanded by 3.6pc with international traffic up 5.5pc and domestic up 1.8pc. Istanbul topped the ranking with 6.9m passengers while small airports achieved 12.7pc growth but remained below pre-pandemic levels.
Freight traffic rose by 6.4pc and aircraft movements increased by 1.8pc though still down 6.9pc from 2019.
Geopolitical events in the Middle East introduced uncertainty to forecasts despite resilient demand.
Olivier Jankovec shared “January usually gives us the first indication of traffic performance for the year, and the data we published today would normally be seen as evidence of resilient demand and positive prospects for the months ahead. But the conflict which has erupted last week in the Middle East is upending traffic forecasts, making the outlook highly uncertain for now. The Middle East and in particular the Gulf has over the past 20 years become an important part of connectivity and traffic volumes for many European airports, from larger regional ones to major hubs. This is not just about direct connectivity and traffic to the Middle East, but also indirect connectivity via that region to Asia-Pacific. This means that even if part of the underlying leisure-driven demand could shift to other destinations or other direct and indirect routings to Asia-Pacific, that traffic is simply not substitutable.”
