08-May-2015 9:15 AM

ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report: EU airports report strong Q1 passenger traffic result

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07-May-2015 European airport trade body, ACI EUROPE today released its traffic report for March and Q1. The report is the only air transport report which includes all types of civil aviation passenger flights: full service, low cost and charter. It reveals that during the first quarter of this year, passenger traffic at Europe's airports grew by an average +5.2%.

More specifically, passenger traffic in the EU grew by a robust +6%, with Greece, Romania, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal, Hungary, Belgium and Croatia recording double digit growth figures. Meanwhile, non-EU airports posted much less dynamic passenger traffic growth of +2.6%, dragged down by traffic declines in Russia and Ukraine.

Freight traffic across the European airport network fell by -0.4%, while aircraft movements were up +1.6%, reflecting limited additional airline capacity in the market.

Q1 Results

Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE said "The impressive performance of passenger traffic at EU airports since the beginning of the year is reflective of a positive economic tailwind across the area - on the back of accelerating private consumption and slowly improving labour markets. This is a very positive development - in sharp contrast to what we have been accustomed to over the past years."

He added "However, variations in growth between national markets are significant and traffic recovery from the 2008 peak is still incomplete for some of them - which means room for further growth ahead. Traffic growth continues to be mainly driven by Low Cost Carriers and it also tends to focus on existing routes and established markets. Clearly, airlines have become much more risk-adverse, in spite of much lower oil prices. This results in increasing connectivity challenges for smaller airports and their communities."

He concluded "The negative result for freight traffic has been brought on by a mix of factors - from still underlying economic weakness in the EU to degrading conditions in Russia and slowing growth emerging economies overseas."

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 +3.2%, +6.9%, +6.5% and +6.5%.

The airports which reported the highest increases in passenger traffic are as follows:

Group 1: Madrid (+11.8%), Rome FCO (+8.5%), London LGW (+7.4%), Barcelona (+5.3%) and Antalya (+4.5%)

Group 2: Athens (+25.8%), London STN (+25.7%), Istanbul SAW and Dublin (+16.7%), Lisbon (+16.3%) and Brussels (+13.4%)

Group 3: Milan BGY (+18.3%), Porto (+17.3%), Bucharest OTP (+15.5%), Heraklion (+13.9%), Berlin SXF (+13.4%),

Group 4: Chania (+101.3%), Mikonos (+44.7%), Thessaloniki (+38.9%), Santorini/Thira (+38.1%) and Sibiu (+36.1%)

March Figures

During the month of March, average passenger growth was +5.5%, while freight reported a fall of -1.8% and movements were up +2.3%.

For March, the airports which reported the highest increases in passenger traffic are as follows:

Group 1: Madrid (+13.5%), Rome FCO and London LGW (+9.3%), Barcelona (+7.1%), Istanbul IST (+3.6%), Copenhagen (+3.4%)

Group 2: Athens (+24.6%), London STN (+24.4%), Dublin (+18.8%) Istanbul SAW (+18.4%) and Lisbon (+16.1%)

Group 3: Porto (+18.3%), Heraklion (+16.7%), Berlin SXF (+16.6%), Bucharest OTP (+16.5%) and Milan BGY (+15.8%)

Group 4: Chania (+105.1%), Zadar (+84.8%), Thessaloniki (+42.8%), Shannon (+42.7%) and Santorini/Thira (+41.2%)

The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report - March & Q1 2015' includes 204 airports in total representing more than 88% of European air passenger traffic.