European airports last year regained 79% of their 2019 passenger tally, a doubling in volume in one year, and hope they have turned the page on Covid-19 even if economic and geopolitical uncertainties remain.
"The increase in passenger traffic last year was phenomenal," Olivier Jankovec, director general of the European branch of Airports Council International (ACI Europe), was quoted as saying in a statement from his organisation on Tuesday.
Frequentation at European airports increased by 98% in 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching 1.94 billion passengers, according to ACI Europe, which covers more than 500 airport hubs in 55 countries.
Uneven recovery across countries
These figures, however, are still 21% lower than the volumes in 2019, before the health crisis that torpedoed global air travel. In addition, "only 27% of European airports have recovered to their pre-pandemic passenger levels," according to ACI Europe.
The recovery is proving uneven across countries, "reflecting a range of factors, including continued demand for family and leisure travel," which is "boosting airport use in tourist countries." Business travel, on the other hand, remains in decline.
Other factors contributing to the imbalance include the targeted development of low-cost carriers, the continuing impact of previous travel restrictions and the war in Ukraine, according to ACI Europe.
Passenger numbers at Albania's airports in 2022 were 155.7% of 2019 levels
Examples: Greek airports, buoyed by an excellent tourist season, clocked in at 98.1% of their 2019 footfall, Portuguese hubs at 94.2% and Spanish ones at 88.6%.
In smaller markets, records were largely broken: Albania had 155.7% of its 2019 air passenger volume, Kosovo 126.1% and Bosnia-Herzegovina 120.4%.
Italy and France achieved 82.1% and 81.2% respectively, while the UK (75.2%) and especially Germany (65.1%) were below average.
Among airports, Istanbul handled the most passengers, at 64.3 million, ahead of London-Heathrow (61.6 million), Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle (57.5 million), Amsterdam-Schiphol (52.5 million) and Madrid (50.6 million).
