(AOF) – “Passenger traffic on the European airport network increased by 12.1% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year,” announces ACI Europe, which represents the continent’s airports. “Despite ever-increasing airfares and persistent pressures from rising inflation, the summer months recorded a very solid performance overall,” she said. Compared to pre-pandemic levels (3rd quarter 2019), passenger traffic in the third quarter of 2023 was down 3.1%.
This figure marks “a significant improvement compared to the first half” (-7.7%) and reflects continued progression towards 2019 traffic levels.
Several important milestones were reached during this third quarter, reports ACI Europe: London-Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport in terms of passenger volume, exceeded its 2019 traffic performance for the first time since the start of the pandemic and almost half of European airports have returned to their 2019 traffic volumes (48%).
“Unlike airlines which have increased their pricing power and posted record profits, airports are still struggling to reflect inflationary pressures in their user fees – and their profitability remains below what is needed to respond investment needs”, notes Olivier Jankovec, Managing Director of ACI Europe.