The Leading Airport Magazine

Eight of the top 10 airports can credit their ranking to a single airline, Ryanair. Six of these airports are Ryanair bases while Grenoble and Turin have benefited from increased Ryanair connections during the winter ski season.

By ralph anker, editor, anna.aero

Analysis of airport traffic data from over 220 European airports in 2008 shows that total annual traffic was virtually unchanged last year. This, however, disguises the fact that most airports saw growth during the first half of the year followed by a drop in passenger numbers during the second part of the year as the economic environment across Europe deteriorated. As a result it will come as little surprise that analysis of preliminary data provided by OAG for April 2009 reveals that the number of routes offered by airlines across Europe (which includes Russia and Turkey) will be down about 7% compared with the same period in 2008.

Europe’s top four airports in terms of most non-stop destinations remains unchanged for a fourth straight year with Frankfurt still just ahead of Paris CDG. Last year London Gatwick was ranked fifth but has fallen to ninth. All of the current top five have seen a reduction in non-stop services. Istanbul, ranked sixth, and Zurich are the only airports in the top 15 to see an increase in point-to-point services. Moscow Domodedovo should probably be in the list somewhere but several Russian airlines have yet to submit schedule data for the summer season making it impossible to obtain an accurate figure at present.

Despite being Europe’s busiest airport in 2008 with 66.9 million passengers, London Heathrow offers non-stop flights to just 156 destinations leaving it ranked just seventh in Europe.

significant route growth

So which airports are bucking the trend and continuing to expand their route networks? This April, just over 100 of Europe’s over 600 airports are estimated to have increased the number of non-stop destinations available from their airport compared with last April. A glance at the top 10 airports ranked by new destinations reveals that four are in Italy, two in the UK and one each in Belgium, France, Germany and Turkey. Unlike last year none of these fast-growing airports are in Central Europe. The restructuring (and downsizing) of Alitalia has evidently presented opportunities at some of Italy’s regional airports for more dynamic airlines to gain a foothold in the market.

Eight of the top 10 airports can credit their ranking to a single airline, Ryanair. Six of these airports are Ryanair bases while Grenoble and Turin have benefited from increased Ryanair connections during the winter ski season (which typically ends at the end of April). Only Istanbul and Lamezia Terme have achieved their expansion without assistance from Ryanair. Lamezia Terme’s increased network is driven by Air Berlin which has added a dozen, mostly weekly, flights to various destinations across Germany and Switzerland. Istanbul’s impressive growth can be attributed to the dynamic growth of the country’s national carrier Turkish Airlines whose passenger numbers grew almost 16% last year to 21.9 million.

2009 will be a tough year for Europe’s airports

Although fuel prices have now fallen back to manageable levels most major European airlines are still cutting back capacity this summer as demand appears to be weakening, especially in the more lucrative business-class market. Several LCCs are bullish claiming that passengers will downgrade from legacy carriers to LCCs rather than give up flying. However, there is also evidence that the leisure driven “weekend-break” market will be affected by consumer confidence and credit crunch concerns. Europe’s airports will need to work more closely than ever with their airline partners to ensure that services can be maintained (even if at reduced frequencies) during these challenging times.

NB: Data Source for tables, OAG Max Online for w/c 21 April 2008 and 20 April 2009

Read more airline route news at anna.aero.