Brussels: European airport trade body ACI EUROPE today released its airport traffic report for the third quarter (Q3) and September 2022.
 
Passenger traffic across the European airport network increased by +61% in Q3 compared to the same period last year. International passenger traffic (+84%) drove the surge as largely unrestricted cross border travel led to a boom in leisure and VFR travel over the peak summer months. Domestic passenger traffic (+14%) expanded at lower but still dynamic pace.
 
When compared to pre-pandemic (2019) levels, passenger traffic in Q3  stood at -12%, a significant improvement over Q2 (-17%) and Q1 (-39%).

 
EU+ MARKET SURGING IN Q3 – WITH NATIONAL VARIATIONS

The EU+ market¹ continued to drive the recovery, with passenger traffic at airports in the bloc increasing by +74% in Q3 compared to the same period last year. The best performances came from airports in the UK (+202%), Finland (+194%) and Ireland (+188%) - largely reflecting the fact that Governments in these countries had been slower to ease travel restrictions last year.
 
When compared to pre-pandemic (2019) levels, airports in the EU+ market were at -13%, with significant variations in recovery performance:

• Airports in Greece (+4.8%), Luxembourg (+3.3%) and Iceland (+1%) exceeded their pre-pandemic passenger volumes.
  
  
• Airports in prominent tourism markets including Portugal (-1.8%), Spain (-7.8%), Croatia (-9.3%) and Italy (-11.4%) generally outperformed the EU+ average, along with those in Romania (-4.8%), Lithuania (-7.6%), Ireland (-10%) and Poland (-11.2%), where significant Ultra-Low Cost Carrier capacity expansion was often a major contributor.
  
  
• Airports in the largest EU+ aviation markets recovered at a slower pace - with France (-14.1%) posting the best results followed by the UK (-18.1%) and Germany (-25.9%). The exposure of these markets to intercontinental traffic (especially to Asia) as well as airport capacity restrictions at selected hubs in the UK and Germany acted as recovery‑limiting factors. 
  
  
• Meanwhile, airports in Finland (-35.4%), Czech Republic (-30.9%), Latvia (-28.7%) and Bulgaria (-27.7%) significantly lagged behind, in large part due to the impact of the war in Ukraine and related sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

At airports in the rest of Europe², passenger traffic increased by +18% in Q3 when compared to the same period last year. The best performance came from airports in Israel (+164.4%), while the loss of all commercial air traffic for Ukrainian airports and declining passenger volumes in Belarus (-15.9%) and Russia (-3.9%) dragged down the average for the non-EU+ bloc.
 
When compared to pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) levels, passenger traffic in the rest of Europe stood at -9%. Airports in Albania (+60%), Kosovo (+26.3%), Bosnia-Herzegovina (+23%), Northern Macedonia (+3.3%) and Montenegro (+0.4%) exceeded their pre-pandemic volumes, while those in the major market of Turkey (-6.6%) as well as in Serbia (-4.4%) and Georgia (-2.9%) came close to a full recovery. Airports in Belarus (-60.1%) registered steep declines, with those in Russia (+3.4%) still managing to remain above their pre-pandemic volumes as passenger traffic shifted to domestic and non-EU+ routes.

 
RECOVERY PATTERNS SHAPING AIRPORT PERFORMANCE

Passenger traffic at the Majors (top 5 European airports) grew by +79.4% in Q3 compared to the same period last year - but remained -16.9% below pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) levels, mainly due to continued travel restrictions in parts of Asia.

• Istanbul was the busiest European airport and the only major European hub whose passenger volumes exceeded pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) levels at +3%. Its passenger traffic increased by nearly +56.1% when compared to Q3 2021.
  
  
• London-Heathrow came second followed by Paris-CDG. Volumes increased by +187.1% and +83% respectively for the British and French hubs compared to Q3 last year – standing at -18.4% and -19.9% respectively below pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) levels.
  
  
• Capacity restrictions limited passenger traffic growth at Amsterdam-Schiphol (+54.1%) and Frankfurt (+62.3%) compared to Q3 last year. The Dutch and German hubs came in 4th and 5th position – with volumes for both remaining below -20% when compared to pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) levels. 

 
The performance of selected other large airports in Q3 reflected a summer recovery still mainly driven by intra-European and transatlantic routes, and dominated by leisure demand:
 

• Paris-Orly (+3.7%) exceeded its pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) passenger volumes.
  
  
• Palma de Mallorca (-2.4%) and Athens (‑5%), came closest to a full recovery of their pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) passenger volumes – along with Lisbon (-5.2%), Antalya (-8.2%) and London-Stansted (-9.6%).  
  
  
• Madrid only handled 2% less passengers than Frankfurt and was the 6th busiest European airport in Q3 (-14.5% compared to Q3 2019).

 
While Regional and smaller airports³ (+50.3%) grew at a lower pace than the Majors in Q3 when compared to the same period last year, they had almost recovered their pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) volumes: -3.7%.
 
This again reflected leisure and intra-European driven recovery dynamics along with Ultra-Low Cost Carriers’ surge in capacity.There were however significant variations in performance amongst regional airports, with those serving popular tourist destinations and/or relying on Low Cost Carriers seeing passenger volumes exceeding pre-pandemic (Q3 2019) levels - including: Perugia (+125.4%), Zadar (+58%), Santorini (+37%), Funchal (+30.4%), Turin (+26.3%), Kerkyra (+19.9%), Figari (+19.8%), Chania (+18.9%), Olbia (+11.3%) Naples (+10.3%), Menorca (+9.3%), Charleroi (+9.3%), Paphos (+8.2%), Palermo (+4.3%) and Bologna (+3.3%).

 
TRAFFIC MOMENTUM HOLDING UP IN SEPTEMBER
 
In September passenger traffic across the European airport network stood at -12% when compared to pre-pandemic (September 2019) levels.
 
Airports in the EU+ markets kept improving and posted their best monthly recovery performance at -12% (vs. -14% in August). Airports in the rest of Europe also made further gains at -15% (vs. -16% in August).  

 
FREIGHT & AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS
 
Freight traffic across the European airport network decreased by -1% in Q3 compared to the same period last year, with EU+ airports seeing freight traffic at -1% and those in the rest of Europe at -4%. Overall freight traffic increased by +6% compared to (Q3 2019) pre-pandemic levels.
 
Aircraft movements increased by +31% in Q3 across the European airport network compared to the same period last year, with airports in the EU+ market at +37% and those in the rest of Europe at +9%.

 
DATA BY AIRPORT GROUPS
 
During Q3, airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3) and airports welcoming less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported an average adjustment of -14%, -14.9%, -4.5% and -3%, as compared to pre-pandemic traffic levels (Q3 2019). The airports that reported the highest increases in passenger traffic for Q3 2022 (when compared with Q3 2019) are as follows:
 
GROUP 1:   Paris ORY (+4%), Istanbul IST (+3%), Palma de Mallorca (-2%), Athens & Lisbon (-5%) and Antalya (-8%).
 
GROUP 2:   Naples (+10%), Catania (+3%), , Porto (+2%), Gran Canaria & Tenerife South (-1%) and Saint Petersburg (-2%).
 
GROUP 3:   Sochi (+123%), Charleroi (+9%), Rhodes (+7%), Fuerteventura & Lanzarote (+5%) and Palermo (+3%).
 
GROUP 4:   Tirana (+60%), Santorini & Memmingen (+37%), Funchal (+30%), Iasi (+28%) and Torino & Prishtina (+26%).