Demand for travel rises despite rising airfares
It is impressive that Russia lost only -2.8% and was close to pre-pandemic volumes.
Passenger traffic at Cypriot airports exceeded pre-pandemic levels in April. Based on the air traffic report for April 2023, which was published today by the European airport trade organization ACI EUROPE, Cyprus airports were among the best performers compared to 2019, specifically recording an increase of 11 .9%. It is noted that passenger traffic at both airports for the month of April approached 1 million passengers – 966,354 passengers (inbound and outbound) and for the four-month level amounted to 2,491,447 million passengers. Accordingly, in April 2019, passenger traffic at both Cypriot airports was 864,902 passengers and from January to April it was 2,264,344 million passengers.
Apart from Cyprus, airports in Iceland (+14.5%), Greece (+11%), Portugal (+10.7%), Bulgaria (+8.7%) and Malta (+8.4%).
The lowest performing
European airports saw a +19.1% increase in passenger traffic in April compared to the same month last year – resulting in volumes -8.1% below their pre-pandemic levels (April 2019). Furthest from full recovery are airports in Slovenia (-39.8%), Germany (-26.1%), Slovakia (-25.9%) and the Czech Republic (-23.7%).< /p>
The performance of the largest markets is related to leisure and the increasing market penetration of ultra-low-cost carriers – with airports in Spain (+2.7%) and Italy (+1%) achieving full recovery, followed by from the United Kingdom (-9.3%), France (-12.8%) and – as mentioned above – Germany.
At airports in the rest of Europe, passenger traffic increased by +35.3% in April compared to the same month last year, resulting in volumes just -4.1% below pre-pandemic levels (April 2019).< /p>
In addition, airports in Ukraine (-100%) lost all passenger traffic while airports in Moldova (-19.9%) were also significantly affected.
Russia and Armenia
It is impressive that Russia lost only -2.8% and was close to pre-pandemic volumes due to demand shifting to domestic and non-EU+ markets. At +95.1% the performance of airports in Armenia, +75.4% in Uzbekistan and +24.2% in Serbia.
+21% compared to last year
As noted in the ACI report, passenger traffic in the European airport network increased by +21.1% in April compared to the corresponding month last year. Considering travel restrictions were largely eased in Europe at this time last year, this increase is significant. As a result, compared to pre-pandemic levels (April 2019), volumes in April this year averaged -7.6%, while improving on the previous months of Q1 (-10.6%).
Demand high
Meanwhile, demand for travel continues to be significantly strengthened, despite rising fare costs. Olivier Jankovec, General Manager of ACI EUROPE said: “April brought us closer to the full recovery of passenger traffic. The Easter holidays boosted demand, which clearly continued to defy inflationary pressures. “The increase is remarkable when air fares are 6 times higher than consumer price inflation.” He also noted that not all airports benefited to the same extent, with significant differences between airports and even within the same country.
Only 47% of European airports have fully recovered their pre-flight passenger volumes. pandemic, as he mentioned.
