EUROPE. Passenger traffic across Europe grew +5.2% year-on-year in February, according to trade association Airports Council International (ACI) Europe.
The growth follows a “booming start” in January, with traffic up +8.9% during the first month of 2017.
In February, EU airports continued to lead the growth dynamic with a +5.5% increase. ACI Europe said that the gap with non-EU airports, which recorded +4.2% growth, was narrowing “on the back of a much improved performance by Russian airports and strong increases in Iceland, Ukraine and Georgia”.
Passenger traffic is still declining in Turkey, although at a slower pace than in previous months.
In the EU, most of the less mature markets in the Eastern part of the Union posted double digit growth increases in passenger traffic, along with Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal, ACI Europe said.
“While these growth rates are lower than those reported for January, the extra ‘leap year’ day in February 2016 should be taken into consideration,” said ACI Europe. “Accordingly, in an adjusted, equal comparison (based on 28 days), passenger traffic across Europe actually rose by +9%, with the EU market growing by +9.3% and the non-EU bloc by +7.9%.”
During February, airports welcoming over 25 million passengers per year (Group 1); between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2); between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3); and less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported average adjustments of +3.2%, +6.6%, +8.1% and +7.6%.
The airports which reported the highest increases in passenger traffic during February 2017 (compared with February 2016) are as follows:
Group 1: Moscow SVO (+15.4%), Manchester (+11.5%), London Gatwick (+9.9%), Zurich (+6.8%) and Amsterdam (+5.8%)
Group 2: St Petersburg (+27.8%), Warsaw WAW (+26.6%), Lisbon (+20%), Prague (+17.8%) and Berlin SXF (+16.1%)
Group 3: Keflavik (+50.1%), Kiev (+29.8%), Larnaca (+28%), Malta (+25.1%) and Faro (+24.5%)
Group 4: Bucharest BBU (+1,041.9%), Nis (+354.4%), Arad (+133.3%), Mikonos (+113.3%) and Oradea (+111%)
