European air traffic recovering, but fresh air pax taxes is the last thing European aviation needs
Brussels, 4 November 2010: The overall passenger traffic at European airports increased by +7.8% in September 2010 compared with September 2009. The overall freight traffic among European airports increased +17.7% in September 2010 when compared with the corresponding month in 2009. The overall figure for movements at European airports increased +3.3% in September 2010 when compared with September 2009.
The accumulated figure for passenger traffic January to September 2010 increase by +4.1% compared with the corresponding period 2009. The accumulated figure for freight traffic during January to September increased by +22.8% and movements increased by +0.2% during the corresponding period when compared with 2009. However, comparisons with January to September in 2008 reveal gaps of -5.3% in passenger traffic and -9.4% in movements, proving that full recovery is still some way off.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE commented "It is reassuring to see that European air traffic continues to recover. September saw the strongest growth in passenger traffic registered so far this year, as well as airlines substantially increasing capacity for the first time, since the start of the crisis. Yet, the recovery remains fragile with significant disparities between national markets. There is still much ground to be regained before Europe's airports return to pre-crisis volumes of passenger traffic."
He added "In that context, the recent taxation frenzy targeting air passengers in Germany, Austria and the UK defies economic logic. These are ill-advised decisions, which are at odds with the role that aviation and airports in particular play as engines of economic growth. They are also short-sighted given the structural shift underway in the global aviation market to the benefit of Asia and Latin America. Adding new taxes will damage the competitive position of the European aviation industry - an impact expressly denounced by the Declaration of Bruges resulting from the Aviation Summit organised just last week by the Belgian Presidency of the EU."
Airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1),
airports welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3) and airports welcoming less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported an average increase of + 7.1%, +8.2%, +8.5% and +7.8% respectively when compared with September 2009. The same comparison of September 2010 with September 2008 demonstrates an average increase of +4.5%, +2.5%, +1.1% and +3.3% respectively.
Examples of airports that experienced the highest increases in passenger traffic per group, when comparing September 2010 with September 2009, include:
• Group 1 airports - Barcelona (+12.9%), Munich (+11.1%),
Frankfurt (+10.4%) and Rome FCO (+10.0%)
• Group 2 airports - Moscow SVO (+31.8%), Stockholm-Arlanda (+14.2%),
Vienna (+13.8%) and Antalya (+13.4%)
• Group 3 airports - Istanbul SAW (+81.6%), Ankara (+37.1%),
Moscow VKO (+17.6%) and Faro (+11.7%)
• Group 4 airports - Brindisi (+63.3%), Podgorica (+58.0%),
Charleroi (+35.9%), and Bari (+23.4%)
The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report - September 2010' includes 125 airports in total. These airports handle 84% of European air traffic.