ACI Europe reports that passenger traffic in May grew by an average +5.6%, with EU airports up +5.8% and non-EU by +5%.

 

Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI Europe commented: “EU passenger traffic continues to perform strongly, led by airports in Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Spain and Hungary, as well as smaller markets including Slovenia, Croatia, Malta and Luxembourg.

 

“Greece in particular has been a top performer for more than 12 months, with passenger traffic consistently achieving double-digit growth. However, the current situation in the country is now causing a decrease in forward bookings – an indication that this dynamic trend is unlikely to persist, at least in the short-term. This may lead to part of the leisure demand moving to other markets.”

 

Jankovec added: “Non-EU passenger traffic is posting its best growth rate this year so far, despite figures generally decreasing at Russian airports. The improvement is mainly driven by airports in Turkey, Iceland and Georgia, as well as the return of growth in Ukraine.”

 

[By contrast, freight traffic across the European airport network fell by -0.4% with ACI Europe pointing to the ‘relative weakness of economic growth in the EU, the continued impact of sanctions on Russia, as well more structural factors’. Aircraft movements were up +1.4%-Ed].

 

 

MADRID GROWTH LEADS BIG AIRPORTS…

The association added that in May those airports welcoming +25m passengers a year (Group 1), airports with 10-25m (Group 2), airports with 5-10m (Group 3) and those with less than 5m a year (Group 4) reported average growth of +4.4%, +5.5%, +9.3% and +6.2% in their respective categories.

 

Airports with the highest passenger increases in their various traffic bands were: Group 1: Madrid Barajas (+12.8%); Istanbul IST (+11.7%); Amsterdam (+7.9%); Zürich (+6.2%); and Barcelona (+6.1%).

 

GROUP 2: Istanbul SAW (+23.1%); Athens (+22.3%); Izmir ADB (+13.8%); Ankara (+13.1%); and Dublin (+12.9%).

 

GROUP 3: Milan BGY* (+192.2%); Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (+16.0%); Porto (+15.9%); Glasgow GLA (+13.3%); Charleroi & Stuttgart (+11.7%).

 

GROUP 4: Astrakhan (+45.2%); Ponta Delgada (+43.6%); Keflavik (+31.6%); Sibiu (+31.5%); and Santorini (+30.2%).

 

 

ACI adds that the exceptionally high figure for Milan BGY (Group 3) was due to comparison with a period of low traffic in 2014. The airport was closed from 13 May to 2 June 2014 due to runway maintenance works, during which all flights were moved to Malpensa (which in turn registered a decrease in traffic this year due to this transfer).

 

The ‘ACI Europe Airport Traffic Report – May 2015’ includes 203 airports in total representing more than 88% of European air passenger traffic and the association points out that its reports are the only air transport reviews which include all types of civil aviation passenger flights: full service, low cost and charter.