EUROPE. Passenger traffic at Europe’s airports grew +6.1% year-on-year in May, trade organisation ACI Europe has reported. It represents a slight deceleration compared to the first quarter (+7.6%).
The non-EU market continued to lead the growth dynamic, with passenger traffic up +8%. This compares to +12.5% in the first quarter. ACI Europe said gains were especially strong at airports in Georgia (+27%), Iceland (+26.5%), Montenegro (+22.2%), Ukraine (+20.7%), Macedonia (+16.1%) Albania (+14.1%) and Israel (+12.5%).
The pace of growth was more moderate in Russia, at +8.6%, and Turkey, at +7.5%.
Passenger traffic rose +5.5% in the EU market, compared to +6.2% in the first quarter. ACI Europe noted the impact of air traffic control and airline strikes as well as the bankruptcies of Air Berlin and Monarch. Weather disruptions also limited growth, it said.
As in previous months, airports in the Eastern and Southern parts of the bloc along with Finland and Luxembourg significantly outperformed this average.
Passenger traffic at Europe’s top five airports grew +3%, but performance varied. Frankfurt led the way with a +9.5% increase, but Istanbul-Atatürk saw traffic decline -0.3%. At London Heathrow traffic was up +3.1%, at Amsterdam Schiphol it was +3%, and at Paris-Charles de Gaulle it was +2.1%.
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During May, airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1); 10-25 million (Group 2); 5-10 million (Group 3); and under 5 million (Group 4) reported average adjustments of +5.4%, +5.1%, +8.4% and +8.7% respectively.
The airports that reported the highest increases were:
Group 1: Antalya (+32.7%), Lisbon (+13.4%), Moscow Sheremetyevo (+11.5%), Dublin (+10.2%) and Madrid (+9.6%).
Group 2: Kiev (+22.2%), Moscow Vnukovo (+16.8%), Athens (+15.4%), Warsaw Chopin (+15.1%) and Budapest (+13.4%).
Group 3: Keflavik (+26.5%), Seville (+26.1%), Rhodes (+20.8%), Riga (+20.4%) and Thessaloniki (+18.2%).
Group 4: Taranto (+1100%), Foggia (+191.4%), Batumi (+53.4%), Poznan (+46.7%) and Varna (+44.7%).
