In this new column, we bring you regular passenger traffic news bulletins from airports around the world, as the travel industry’s recovery continues apace. Check back on this page for all the latest updates.
29 August
USA. Strong passenger traffic is expected at Southern California’s Ontario International Airport over the Labor Day weekend. According to airport officials, the number of domestic and international travellers combined will be more than 77,000 from 1 September through to 5 September. That number would be +6% higher than the same holiday period last year and +4.3% more than the equivalent days of 2019.
Ontario International Airport Authority CEO Atif Elkadi said: “It has been a great summer at Ontario International as travellers returned to our airport in higher numbers, reaffirming our place as the gateway of choice for millions of Southern Californians.”
He added: “The Labor Day travel estimate certainly tracks with our summer forecast, which predicted that passenger volumes would continue to surpass pre-pandemic levels.”
More than 1.7 million passengers are expected at the airport over the summer, the busiest since 2008.
The numbers have been swelled by new destinations from Ontario International including Charlotte, Honolulu and San Salvador. The airport now offers non-stop service to more than two dozen popular destinations.
23 August
UK. Gatwick Airport has reported serving over 13.1 million passengers in the first half of this year, aided by the recovery of 74.3% of pre-pandemic levels in Q2. Passenger numbers in the January-June period were 59% of the equivalent period in 2019 (22.2 million passengers).
Gatwick has revised its traffic forecasts for the full year 2022 to 32.8 million passengers following the strong recent demand. The airport however noted that continued macro-economic uncertainty – including inflationary pressures on costs – may impact this forecast.
Gatwick Airport Chief Executive Officer Stewart Wingate said: “We still have some way to go, but strong demand has fast-tracked Gatwick’s recovery from the pandemic, particularly in the last quarter since all UK travel restrictions were removed.”
17 August
JORDAN. Airport International Group (AIG) has reported that Queen Alia International – the airport serving Jordan’s capital city, Amman – has welcomed almost 4.2 million passengers in the first seven months of this year.
The number marks a +126.2% surge and -17.9% drop against 2021 and pre-pandemic 2019 equivalent figures, respectively.
In July, the 948,337 passengers recorded show a +52.6% growth against the 2021 number and are just -1.2% behind the same month of 2019.
AIG CEO Nicolas Claude said: “The Eid al Adha holiday and Hajj season, paired with the increased appetite for travel during the summer break, have triggered July’s positive traffic figures.”
He added: “Enhancing the accessibility and tax competitiveness of QAIA compared with regional airports will be key to achieving similar results in the coming months, thereby confirming our airport’s positive contributions towards local tourism and the national economy.”
MALAYSIA. Malaysia Airports served 7.8 million passengers in July, the group announced today, with the figure reaching around 62% of pre-pandemic levels in July 2019. Crucially, international passenger numbers (in Malaysia and Turkey combined) exceeded the three million mark for the first time since the pandemic began.
The figure of 3.1 million was mainly driven by Summer holiday traffic and the Hajj season as well as further resumption of airline connectivity and routes. Within Malaysia, and led Kuala Lumpur International, international volumes reached 1.6 million.
The recent announcement to lift pre-departure and on-arrival COVID-19 testing, home surveillance orders and quarantine for all inbound travellers to Malaysia from 1 August offers room for optimism about an accelerated recovery for the international sector, said the company.
At Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen International, passenger traffic exceeded 3 million, 1.5 million of which was international – the latter figure exceeded July 2019 by +6.4%.
UAE. Some very encouraging numbers released by Dubai Airports for Dubai International Airport (DXB) this morning, which has seen first-half traffic surge (+161.9%) to 27.9 million. The figure is just 1.2 million short of the total achieved in the whole of 2021 and represents 67.5% of traffic recorded in pre-pandemic H1 2019.
As a result of the strong H1, Dubai Airports has readjusted its annual forecast for 2022 upwards to 62.4 million passengers.
Achieving growth for the ninth successive quarter since early in the pandemic, DXB recorded 14.2 million passengers in the second quarter, a year-on-year rise of +190.6%.
More details on DXB’s first half performance here.
14 August
SPAIN. The Spanish airports operated by Aena served more than 27 million passengers in July. This figure represents a highly-encouraging 92% of the traffic recorded in pre-pandemic July 2019.
Some 18,245,175 of the passengers travelled on international flights, -12.3% less than in July 2019, while passengers on domestic flights (8,755,223) topped the pre-pandemic number by +2.6%.
In the first seven months of 2022, 83.9% of passenger traffic has been recovered compared to the same period of 2019.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport recorded the highest number of passengers July, with 5,025,214, though this was a decrease of -15.5% compared to the same month of 2019.
12 August
HONG KONG. Airport Authority Hong Kong has reported passenger numbers of 401,000 for Hong Kong International Airport in July, a growth of +259.3% over the same period last year. However, passenger volume remained significantly below pre-pandemic levels.
The relaxation of inbound travel and transfer/transit measures drove the growth in all passenger traffic segments, AAHK said, with passenger traffic to and from Southeast Asia experiencing the most significant increase.
Over the first seven months of the year, HKIA has served 1.2 million passengers, an increase of +152.8% compared to the same period last year.
UK. The three airports of Manchester Airports Group (MAG) – Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands – served 85% of pre-Covid passenger numbers in July, up from 82% in May and 84% in June.
Some 5.5 million passengers travelled through the terminals of these airports across the month, an increase on the 5.2 million in June.
London Stansted passenger numbers reached 90% of 2019 levels, totalling 2.5 million.
Manchester Airport’s strong recovery also continued, as 2.6 million passengers passed through the Northern hub.
Finally, East Midlands Airport saw more than 400,000 passengers travel through its terminal in July.
MAG CEO Charlie Cornish said: “July was MAG’s busiest month since the pandemic began, with millions jetting-off for their long-awaited summer holidays, some for the first time in two years.
“This summer, more than 11 million people will travel through our airports and, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our teams, we will ensure they get away on their travels smoothly.
“We continue to see a strong recovery and, having welcomed more than 2,000 new colleagues into our business, are laying the foundations for passenger volumes and customer service to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023.”
11 August
GERMANY/GREECE. Frankfurt Airport welcomed more than 5 million passengers in a single month for the first time since the start of the pandemic in July, a +76.5% increase compared to July 2021. Traffic for the month was still -27.4% below the level registered in pre-pandemic July 2019.
Operator Fraport said the upward trend was driven by the ongoing rise in demand for holiday flights. Germany’s largest aviation hub thus maintained its rapid growth momentum, despite a one-day strike by Lufthansa ground staff in late July which resulted in some 100,000 passengers less for the reporting month.
The performance of other airports in the Fraport’s international portfolio – all of which also reported encouraging figures – can be seen in the table below.
These include 14 Greek regional airports, where total traffic advanced to 5,912,102 passengers in July. As a result, combined traffic figures for the Greek airports comfortably exceeded pre-crisis levels for the month, rising by +11.1 % versus July 2019.
DENMARK. Copenhagen Airport served more than 2.4 million passengers, who departed to more than 120 destinations, in July. The number represents about 80% of pre-COVID pandemic 2019 figures for the comparable month.
The encouraging result comes despite a recent Scandinavian Airlines pilot strike, which operator Copenhagen Airports said meant fewer passengers passed through the airport during July than expected.
Copenhagen Airports noted that the long-haul intercontinental routes out of the airport, particularly Asia and North America, are still heavily affected by the pandemic, and with just under 200,000 passengers served in this category during July. The number is just 51% of the pre-COVID benchmark.
Copenhagen Airports Chief Commercial Officer Peter Krogsgaard said: “Copenhagen Airport is really beginning to look like its old familiar self, and once again the terminals are full of the hustle and bustle of life.”
UK. Heathrow Airport served more than 6 million passengers last month, following on from its imposition of a cap of 100,000 departing passengers a day, announced on 12 July.
The airport said the move has contributed to fewer last-minute flight cancellations, better aircraft punctuality and more efficient baggage delivery.
Its latest estimate is that 16 million passengers will be served at Heathrow across the July to September period.
Full story here.
5 August
LATVIA. Preliminary data shows that Riga Airport served 2.8 million passengers in the first seven months of this year, some +302% more than in the same period last year. The figure is 64% of the pre-COVID crisis 2019 numbers achieved between January and July.
This July, more than 600,000 passengers were welcomed at the airport, an increase of +104% against the same month last year. The number of passengers served represented 72% of the 2019 result.
The flow of transit passengers also shows a gradual slow increase at Riga Airport, which the airport noted dropped significantly after the war started by Russia in Ukraine.
4 August
GERMANY. Berlin Brandenburg Airport has reported almost two million passengers served for the third successive month.
In July, 1.97 million people used the airport, a large increase from the 1.25 million passengers served in July 2021.
More than ten million passengers used Berlin Brandenburg Airport in the first seven months of this year.
Last month, almost 15,200 aircraft took off and landed in the capital region – 300 fewer than in June 2022.
3 August
QATAR. Hamad International Airport (HIA) served 8.42 million passengers in the second quarter, a +18% increase over the first three months of 2021. It was the busiest quarter at the airport since 2020.
The passenger transfer percentage also grew by +16 per cent in Q2 over the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the number of outbound local passengers in Q2 was +47% higher than in Q1. The number of inbound passengers increased by +7 per cent by the same comparison.
The Q2 total was made up of 2.5 million passengers in April, 2.8 million in May and 3.1 million in June.
UK.London City Airport served 640,000 passengers in the period from June to July, and remains on course to reach the three million mark by the end of the year, according to the airport.
Over 300,000 passengers are expected to pass through the airport in August, as it closes in on one million passengers for the core summer travel months.
Across June and July, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Zurich were the busiest overall routes. Ibiza was the strongest leisure performer, followed by Florence, Palma, Nice and Malaga.
London City Airport Chief Executive Robert Sinclair said: “We have made a conscious effort with our airlines to attract more leisure routes and passengers this summer and the fact we could reach close to one million passengers for the period is testament to the resilience of our operation and quality of the passenger experience we offer.”
Read July’s Passenger Traffic Monitor column here.
