Europe pax traffic up 8.8% in Oct-2010

ACI Europe announced passenger traffic up at European airports - traffic highlights in Oct-2010:

• Passenger traffic: +8.8%;
• Aircraft movements: +4.2%;
• Air cargo: +15.4%.

Strong passenger traffic increases were recorded at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (+64.7%), Brindisi (+50.2%), Podgorica (+42.5%), Brussels Charleroi (+39.1%), Ankara (+36.6%), Moscow Sheremetyevo (+31.5%), and Barcelona (+18.1%). [more]

ACI Europe: "The recovery at Europe's airports is gathering pace. We have seen a continuous and sustained growth of air traffic in recent months and October clearly marked a further improvement - with 87% of airports achieving an increase in passenger traffic. While all categories of airports have performed well, secondary hubs have returned to more robust growth with several of them achieving double digit increases. Geographically, the picture remains extremely varied with Russia, Turkey and some eastern European markets booming while, at the other end of the spectrum, Greece, Ireland and the UK have recorded most of the traffic decreases." Oliver Jankovec, Director General. Source: ACI Europe, 08-Dec-2010.

ACI Europe: "Yet, the outlook for year end and 2011 remains uncertain. More growth is still needed to achieve a full recovery and return to pre-crisis passenger volumes. But, ongoing rates of unemployment and the threat of further sovereign debt crises are obviously affecting our prospects as they are casting clouds on future demand levels. In this context, yesterday's decision by the Irish Government to reduce its air passenger tax is a positive signal, but it still falls short of following the Dutch example - where a similar tax was entirely scrapped due to its damaging impact on the economy." Oliver Jankovec, Director General. Source: ACI Europe, 08-Dec-2010.