This time last year analysis of airport traffic at European airports revealed that just over 50 airports were reporting growth. This year, analysis of July traffic data for over 250 airports across Europe by anna.aero has revealed that more than 200 are reporting an increase in passenger numbers over last July. Compared with last July passenger numbers are up around 6%, though this varies significantly by country. For example Turkish airport traffic is up almost 22% while according to government statistics air travel demand from UK airports is still down, though by less than 1%. Possibly worst affected as a country is Ireland where traffic is down almost 8%, primarily as a result of Ryanair’s decision to reduce capacity significantly in response to the Irish government’s imposition of a €10 travel tax in May 2009.
Nordic countries are also doing better than average. Passenger numbers in July were up 11% in Norway, 10% in Sweden and 7.5% in Finland. The region’s biggest hub in Copenhagen reported growth of 11.3% in July, while two other Danish airports (Aalborg and Billund) saw passenger numbers rise by 23%. Denmark is one of several European countries to have axed taxes that it once imposed on air travel.
The relatively strong German economy has helped demand there grow by around 7% but 2011 will be much harder to predict as the government recently announced plans to introduce a minimum €8 ‘eco-tax’ on all departing passengers on flights starting from 1 January. Hopefully the government’s revenue estimates have taken into account that this will quite possibly result in fewer passengers passing through German airports in 2011 than in 2010.
The impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in April can clearly be seen. By looking at figures for March and May, and comparing them with April the effect on demand of the ash cloud can be estimated. This varied by Western European country from a 12% reduction in Spain to around 20% in the UK and Ireland, rising to around 30% in Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Airport winners…
Several airports reported year-on-year growth of over 50% in July with Kaunas in Lithuania leading the way. Thanks to the launch of a Ryanair base at the airport in May, passenger numbers in July are more than double what they were a year ago. Trapani in Sicily, another Ryanair base saw traffic surge over 50% versus last year as did Turku in Finland and Turkey’s Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen airport. Among larger European airports (those handling more than two million passengers) Brussels Charleroi reported impressive growth of just over 40%, while two more Turkish airports, Ankara and Izmir, registered growth of 32% and 25% respectively.
…and losers
Among the 50-plus airports which saw passenger numbers fall once more in July are 20 airports that handled more than three million passengers in 2009. Rome Ciampino (-10.8%), Frankfurt Hahn (-8.3%) and Athens (-8.0%) struggled the most, along with several major low-cost hubs such as London Stansted (down 7.2%), Dublin (down 4.3%) and London Gatwick (down 3.1%). It seems that although new low-cost bases, helped by marketing support from the airport and local tourism agencies, can still stimulate traffic, more mature low-cost bases are struggling, especially in countries where taxes on air travel are rising, thus encouraging customers to reconsider how many leisure flights to indulge in on an annual basis.
More bad news for the UK and Ireland?
While modest growth is likely to occur across Europe as a whole this winter there are still likely to be considerable variations with Ryanair already announcing that it will be shifting more capacity out of the UK and Ireland and into mainland Europe, though probably not Germany now that flights there will face additional taxation. It will also be interesting to see whether star performers like Turkey can continue their impressive growth and whether airports in underperforming economies (like Greece) will see that reflected in their passenger figures.
Source: ADP, ADV, Aena, ANA, Asseroporti, Avinor, DAA, DHMI, Finavia, ONDA, Swedavia, UK CAA
