After a period of dynamic growth, the increase in traffic at Europe’s airports is slowing, with freight traffic weighing on the performance of the region’s airports, Airports Council International (ACI)-Europe said June 27.
In 2018, Europe’s airports set a record of handling more than 2.34 billion passengers, while in the past five years traffic has expanded by 36% or an extra 630 million passengers.
This year’s growth remains “dynamic” at 4.4%, and 5.1% for European Union (EU) airports, but the pace is moderating; freight traffic continues to decline 3%, the industry group said in Limassol, Cyprus at its annual congress and general assembly.
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec said: “There are signs that the traffic momentum is fading for Europe’s airports. A synchronized slowdown in the global economy and significant geopolitical risks are combining with volatile oil prices, ATM disruptions and overcapacity to exert downward pressures on both demand and supply.”
That leads to more risk for airlines focused on protecting yields, which along with airline failures and airport capacity constraints, is hitting air connectivity, ACI Europe said, citing its Airport Industry Connectivity Report. The report shows that direct air connectivity in Europe is expanding by just 1.2%, with the intra-European market and the Europe-North America market underperforming, with 0.7% and 0.8% increases, respectively.
The statement comes as aviation’s contribution to climate change is in the spotlight with Europe-wide discussions about taxing aviation. ACI Europe said June 26 that Europe’s airport industry had committed to cutting carbon emissions to zero by 2050 at the latest, with 194 airports run by 40 airport operators across 24 European countries also individually committed to the same objective, marking “a step change in the climate action of the airport industry.”
Based on current traffic volumes in European airports, the commitment would eliminate a total of 3.46 million tons of annual CO2 emissions as of 2050, it said.
ACI Europe is observing changing dynamics among the airlines that use its airports: LCCs have moved into primary airports while full-service carriers are focusing growth on their own LCC units…
