ACI Europe reports total September passenger traffic up +3.9%, EU airports traffic +3.8% and non-EU airports +4.3%.

 

Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI Europe said: “In September, passenger traffic growth at EU airports has generally remained dynamic, despite the massive impact of the Air France pilot strike on French airports and worrying economic indicators.

 

“A major factor for this dynamism continues to be the expansion of Low Cost Airlines in primary airport markets. Outside the EU, Ukrainian and Israeli airports continue to suffer, with traffic growth slowing down significantly in Russia and Turkey. The only bright spots are airports in Iceland, Moldova and Serbia which have all experienced growth well in excess of 20%.”

 

He added: “While the European economic outlook continues to weaken, the present slide in oil prices could help sustain airline capacity. However, with many European airlines having hedged their fuel requirements above current market prices, this may take a while to materialise – assuming oil prices do not go back up again.”

 

 

Moscow Sheremetyevo traffic was up +7.9% in September.

 

 

BEST PERFORMING AIRPORTS

Airports welcoming more than 25m passengers per year (Group 1), those with between 10m-25m (Gp2), airports with 5m-10m (Gp3) and facilities with less than 5m (Gp4) reported ‘average adjustments of +3.1%, +6.2%, +0.8% and +5.0% respectively.

 

Airports which reported the highest increases in passenger traffic in the month were: (GROUP 1): Istanbul IST (+11.0%); Rome FCO (+7.9%); Moscow SVO (+7.9%); Barcelona (+7.8%); and London LGW (+7.7%). (GROUP 2): Athens (+22.9%); Istanbul SAW (+18.5%); Brussels (+17.7%); Lisbon (+16.0%); and London STD (+14.0%).

 

(GROUP 3): Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (+14.6%); Naples (+10.7%); Tenerife TFS (+10.5%); Ibiza (+9.5%); and Bucharest OTP (+9.0%). (GROUP 4): Chambery CMF (+56.6%); Belgrade (+38.8%); Chisinau (+38.7%); Mineralnye Vody (+31.3%); and Santorini/Thira (+26.4%).

 

During Q3, airports in the same groups as above reported average passenger growth adjustments of +4.9%, +6.9%, +2.1% and +6.6% respectively.

 

ACI Europe says that its Airport Traffic Report – September and for quarter 3 2014’ includes 208 airports in total, representing approximately more than 88% of European air passenger traffic.