EUROPE. ACI Europe today warned that an estimated 193 airports face insolvency in the coming months if passenger traffic does not start to recover by year end. These airports between them facilitate 277,000 jobs and €12.4 billion of European GDP, said the association.
The latest data shows:
- A year-on-year decrease of -73% in passenger traffic at Europe’s airports in September;
• The loss of an additional 172.5 million passengers in September bringing the total volume of lost passengers since January 2020 to 1.29 billion;
• As of mid-October, passenger traffic stood at -75% compared to the same period last year, reaching -80% for airports in the EU/EEA/Switzerland/UK footprint
Given these figures, ACI Europe warned that the region “faces the prospect of the collapse of a significant part of its air transport system – unless governments step up to provide the required support”. The worsening travel outlook in the region is underlined by cuts to airline capacity for the rest of 2020 and into 2021.
ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec said: “In the midst of a second wave, ensuring safe air travel continues to be our primary concern. It’s crucial that we reduce the risks of importation and dissemination as much as possible. But surely we can do a much better job of reducing those risks by testing air passengers rather than with quarantines that cannot be enforced.”
He added: “The figures published today paint a dramatically bleak picture. Eight months into the crisis, all of Europe’s airports are burning through cash to remain open, with revenues far from covering the costs of operations, let alone capital costs. Governments’ current imposition of quarantines rather than testing is bringing Europe’s airports closer to the brink with every day that passes.”
The airports facing insolvency are mainly regional airports, noted ACI Europe. It added that larger airports also face critical financial risk.
“They have cut costs to the bone and have resorted to the financial markets to shore up balance sheets and build emergency war chests. This sudden increase in debt – an additional €16 billion for the top 20 European airports – is equivalent to nearly 60% of their revenues in a normal year. This, along with the fact that these airports had to make thousands of highly skilled workers redundant, clearly jeopardises their future.”
*Olivier Jankovec spoke about the risk of airport business continuity and possible insolvency for some in an interview with The Moodie Davitt Report in our September Magazine. Click here to access the issue (page 18).
