European air travel exceeds pre-pandemic levels in first half of year

European air passenger traffic grew by 9.5% in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2023 and exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels for the first time, up 0.4% on the first six months of 2019.

According to data released Wednesday by the European division of Airports Council International (ACI Europe), the main driver of this growth was international passenger traffic, which increased by 10.3%, more than double the observed figure for domestic air traffic.

“With passenger traffic finally exceeding 2019 levels for a full six-month period, our industry has emerged from the pandemic,” said ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec.

However, Jankovec warned that the European airport network had “become extremely fragmented” with “only 53% of airports having fully restored pre-pandemic passenger volumes by June.”

The best performance in June was seen in leisure and family airports such as Poland (+24.5%), Greece (23.9%) and Malta (19.1%), while across the top five markets the biggest increases were in Italy (13.1%) and Spain (8%), compared to declines in the UK (-1.1%), France (-4%) and Germany (-17%).

On the other hand, the five largest European airports received a total of 174.6 million passengers in the first half of the year, which is 8% more than in the first half of 2023 and 2% more than before the pandemic.

Thus, in January-June, 39.8 million passengers passed through Heathrow Airport (London) (7.4% more than in 2023), followed by Istanbul (38.1 million, 6.9% more), Paris Charles de Gaulle (33.2 million, plus 4.4%), Schipol in Amsterdam (31.8 million plus 11%) and Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas (31.7 million plus 11.3%).

Air cargo transportation in the first half of the year increased by 9.6% compared to the same period last year.