EUROPE. Passenger traffic at European airports continues to show signs of improvement, according to Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, which published a +4.0% year-on-year rise in February passenger numbers today.
Despite the fact that these traffic figures were affected by industrial action, particularly in France and Germany*, they nevertheless confirm the improving trend registered since November 2009, ACI Europe said.
However, the trade body cautioned that the numbers still compare poorly with 2008 traffic levels – February 2010 passenger traffic was -10.1% lower than that recorded in February 2008.
For the first two months of 2010 passenger traffic increased by +4.0% compared with the corresponding period in 2009.
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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 average increases of +2.3%, +3.9%, +2.0% and +5.7%, respectively, when compared with February 2009.
However, the same comparison of February 2010 with February 2008 demonstrates average decreases of
-9.9%, -11.9%, -14.7% and -8.4% respectively.
Examples of airports that experienced the highest increases in passenger traffic per group, when comparing February 2010 with February 2009 include:
• Group 1 airports – Istanbul (+16%), Rome Fiumicino (+7.1%), London Heathrow (+5.2%), Amsterdam Schiphol (+5.1%)
• Group 2 airports – Moscow Domodedovo (+36.6%), Copenhagen (+10.5%), Athens (+9.7%) and Lisbon (+8.9%)
• Group 3 airports – Moscow Vunukovo(+35.6%), Milan Bergamo (+12.1%), Warsaw (+6.7%) and Berlin Schönefeld (+6.4%)
• Group 4 airports – Ohrid (+70.6%), Brindisi (+38.7%), Bari (+30.8%) and Charleroi (+29.9%).
The ACI Europe Airport Traffic Report – February 2010 includes 111 airports. These airports represent nearly 80% of total European passenger traffic.
For further details on ACI Europe please visit www.ACI-Europe.org
* In France, air traffic controllers went on strike for four days; and in Germany, Lufthansa pilots planned a four-day strike, which was suspended after 12 hours.
