ADVERTISEMENTEurope’s airports have finally exceeded pre-Covid levels of passenger traffic, according to a new report.
Airports Council International (ACI) Europe confirmed that 2.5 billion passengers passed through European airports in 2024 - 7.4 per cent higher than in 2023.
As a result, last year’s overall traffic was 1.8 per cent above pre-pandemic levels (2019).
However, 47 per cent of Europe’s airports are still below their pre-pandemic volumes.
Structural aviation market changes and geopolitics have resulted in significant performance gaps across national and individual airport markets, ACI Europe said.
Europe’s airports surpassed historic passenger traffic records in 2024
The growth of Europe’s airports in 2024 was mostly driven by international passenger traffic (up 8.8 per cent on 2023), the report found.
Domestic passenger traffic only grew 2.5 per cent on 2023 - remaining 6.3 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
Traffic was more pronounced in the first half of the year as well as during off-peak months traditionally associated with lower traffic.
This reflects structural aviation market changes - including a partial shift to rail - strong cross-border mobility within the EU Single Market, and fast-growing demand in emerging markets outside the EU, ACI Europe said.
“Europe’s airports welcomed an additional 200 million passengers last year, with many surpassing their previous historic records,” said Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe.
“This was achieved despite much-inflated airfares, continued supply pressures, mostly tepid economic growth and geopolitical tensions. That clearly speaks volumes about how consumers are now prioritising experiences and travel in particular.”
Jankovec added that 2024 confirmed major structural post-Covid shifts, with passengers increasingly travelling for leisure and visiting friends and relatives, and low-cost carriers largely defining traffic performance.
Which are Europe’s busiest airports?
The best-performing European airports in 2024 were London Heathrow, Istanbul, Paris CDG, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid.
London Heathrow retained its position as Europe’s busiest airport in 2024, welcoming 83.9 million passengers. This represented an increase of 5.9 per cent over the previous year, allowing the British hub to surpass its pre-pandemic levels by 3.7 per cent.
Airports in the EU+ market - including in Hungary, Czechia and Estonia - saw passenger traffic increase by 7.8 per cent in 2024 when compared to the previous year, outperforming those in the rest of Europe.
ADVERTISEMENTThe impact of geopolitics was more acute in those areas, hitting airports in Israel (-33.3 per cent), Russia (-13.5 per cent) and Ukraine (no traffic).
Passenger traffic at small airports (less than one million passengers) in 2024 grew at the slowest pace and remained 34.5 per cent below their pre-pandemic volumes.
These small airports provide connectivity and territorial cohesion across the breadth of Europe, ACI Europe said, yet structural market changes and regulatory developments are hindering their recovery.
‘Ill-advised aviation policies’ will be biggest challenge for further growth in 2025
“Looking at the months ahead, we expect demand for air travel to remain resilient - defying fragile consumer confidence and generally sluggish European economies,” Jankovec said.
ADVERTISEMENT“We are thus forecasting a 4 per cent growth in passenger traffic for 2025 - but we will need to keep that forecast under review, considering the overwhelming global political and economic uncertainties.”
The main challenges for traffic will be airlines’ fleet management woes, air traffic management capacity shortages, ill-advised aviation policies and geopolitics, Jankovec said.