Brussels, 8 December 2016: European airport trade association, ACI EUROPE today releases its traffic report for October 2016. This is the only air transport report which includes all types of airline passenger flights to from and within Europe: full service, low cost, charter and others.

Passenger traffic across the European airport network in October reported a robust increase of +6.1%. This is the best monthly performance since March – reflective of a continued traffic dynamic in the EU and the return of growth in the non-EU bloc.   

Airports in the EU saw passenger traffic increase by an average of +7.1%, with impressive double digit growth in Southern & Eastern Europe – in particular in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.

Passenger traffic at Non-EU airports grew by + 2.7%, a welcome development following nearly 6 consecutive months of traffic losses. This is the result of a combination of a much improved traffic performance for Russian airports, a traffic recovery gathering pace for airports in Turkey as well as sustained growth in other countries such as Ukraine and Georgia – not to mention Iceland where passenger traffic increased by nearly +50%.       

Freight traffic across Europe jumped by +8.7% - the best monthly performance since May 2011. While EU airports registered an average increase in freight traffic of +7%, non-EU ones reported an increase of +22.9%. Meanwhile, aircraft movements were up +4.2% – pointing to significant airline capacity expansion. 

Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE said “October saw passenger traffic picking up further – with the negative impact of the terror attacks that took place earlier in the year and of the failed coup in Turkey gradually receding. Both the passenger and freight dynamics reflected a generally improved macro-economic environment, especially in the EU – as well as low oil prices. However, the prospect of oil price hikes and the risk of decreasing business & consumer confidence on the back on heightened geopolitical instability may well confront us with very different traffic dynamics in the coming months.”

BREAKDOWN BY TRAFFIC CATEGORY

During the month of October, 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 +2.6%, +8.3%, +10.8% and +8.5%.

The airports which reported the highest increases in passenger traffic during October 2016 (compared with October 2015) are as follows:

GROUP 1:     Barcelona (+10.9%), Dublin (+9.3%), Amsterdam (+8.7%), Zurich (+8.5%), Copenhagen (+7.7%)

GROUP 2:     Warsaw WAW (+21.0%), Malaga (+19.6%), Alicante (+19.5%), Lisbon (+17.1%) and Palma De Mallorca (+16.9%)

GROUP 3:     Larnaca (+40.0%), Berlin SXF (+36.9%), Ibiza (+33.3%), Heraklion (+30.3%) and Bucharest OTP (+21.7%)

GROUP 4:    Oradea (+4,909.3%), Bucharest BBU (+884.2%), Grenoble (+272.2%), Chambery (+198.4%) and Iasi (+164.0%)

The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report – October 2016’ includes 237 airports in total representing more than 88% of European air passenger traffic.

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Notes to Editors

The ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report is a dedicated service for journalists available in the password protected ‘Airport Traffic Report’ section of the ‘Media room’ on our website www.aci-europe.org. Accredited members of the media may also access additional traffic analysis and comprehensive traffic databases. For your password to access these sections, please contact us by e-mail at: maria.karananou@aci-europe.org. Your request will be validated and the password will be e-mailed to your work address.

For more information, please contact:

Robert O’Meara, Director, Media & Communications, ACI EUROPE

mobile: +32 (0)486 54 14 71 or tel: +32 (0)2 552 09 82.

Email: robert.omeara@aci-europe.org

ACI EUROPE is the European region of Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide professional association of airport operators. ACI EUROPE represents over 500 airports in 45 European countries. In 2014, our member airports handled over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe, welcoming more than 1.9 billion passengers, 18.9 million tonnes of freight and 22.8 million aircraft movements. These airports contribute to the employment of 12.3 million people, generating €675 billion each year (4.1%) of GDP in Europe.

EVERY FLIGHT BEGINS AT THE AIRPORT.