Holidaymakers are increasingly choosing to travel with low-cost airlines, the European branch of Airports Council International (ACI Europe) stated on Monday.
The organisation explained that this is a lasting change as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to this boom, new holiday destinations have gained in popularity compared to 2019.
Albania is one of the countries benefiting from the growing use of low-cost flights. Last month, in fact, it welcomed more than double the number of passengers as it did four years earlier.
Traditional airlines, which generally offer a little more comfort, are suffering from this trend. In addition, ACI Europe notes that consumers are increasingly opting for alternative solutions to air transport when travelling within the same country.
Aviation industry still uncertain
Although European airports are still seeing strong demand for more expensive air tickets, despite inflation, ACI Europe Chief Executive Olivier Jankovec fears this will soon come to an end.
"After the summer months, we are seeing major downside risks and a great deal of uncertainty," he explained. The macroeconomic situation in the eurozone and the UK could soon deteriorate, he fears, while household savings reserves built during the pandemic are being depleted.
Italy, Russia and Turkey have already reached higher levels of visitor numbers than before the Covid-19 pandemic. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Armenia are also all benefiting from the flight restrictions imposed by European countries on Russia because of the war in Ukraine.
Credit: Belga
Welcoming 37 million passengers in the first half of 2023, London Heathrow is once again Europe's largest airport. It is ahead of Istanbul, the only one of Europe's five largest airports to post higher passenger figures than four years ago.
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However, major airports (-8.9% in passenger numbers) are lagging behind smaller and regional airports (+0.4%).
Frankfurt, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol have, in fact, still posted falls of -20%, -12.6% and -17% respectively compared with the first half of 2019. Among the larger airports, it was mainly typical holiday destinations such as Lisbon (+8.7%), Athens (+7.3%) or Palma de Mallorca (+3.8%) that performed well in the first half of this year.
As for the smaller airports, it was mainly those served by low-cost carriers that posted the strongest growth. These include, for example, the airports of Trapani (+163%) and Perugia (+137%) in Italy, but also Kutaisi (+82%) in Georgia and Zaragoza (+57%) in Spain. Tirana in Albania (+105%) is also benefiting from low-cost travel.
Overall, passenger numbers remained below 2019 levels at more than half of European airports (52%).
