Europe’s Quarterly Passenger Traffic Sees Growth

This week, ACI Europe released its traffic report for the first half of 2016, as well as the numbers for the second quarter of this year. Even though it has been a tumultuous first half, Europe’s passenger traffic still grew by an average of 4.9%.

The largest part of the growth was centered around secondary hubs, scattered all over Europe. Airports such as Berlin-Schonefeld, Cologne-Bon, and Bucharest did well, followed closely by Dublin, Barcelona, and Birmingham.

Passenger traffic numbers outside of the EU were not as prosperous. Mainly in Turkey and Russia, numbers dropped significantly at a strong decline of -6,9%. The ACI stated, “These worrying trends are due to the impact of terrorism and accrued geopolitical instability.”

After the terrorist attack at IST on 28 June, Turkish carriers canceled 377 flights.

“Since these traffic figures do not yet reflect the full impact of the Istanbul-Atatürk airport terrorist attack and the failed coup in Turkey, we expect a further worsening of airport traffic performance over the summer and for the remainder of the year,” ACI continued.

However, on a different note, airports serving leisure destinations did well. Places such as Malaga, Gran Canaria, and Malta all showed growth well over 10%, and in the case of Bourgas even a staggering 25.2%, being closely followed by Verna at 24.3%. These destinations benefited from the demand shifting away from Turkey and North Africa.

The main drivers behind this increased growth of passenger traffic are the low cost carriers. In the upcoming half year, the low oil prices will allow them to continue expanding and focus on further growth within the market.

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