European air travel nears pre-pandemic levels with busy summer ahead

Shannon Airport saw 7,800 passengers use the gateway last Friday

John Mulligan

European air traffic retuned to just over 92pc of its pre-pandemic levels in April, according to new data published on Wednesday.

Airports in Ireland have also reported a strong start to the summer season. Shannon Airport said that it had its busiest day in seven years over the holiday weekend.

ACI Europe, a representative body for airports, said that passenger traffic jumped 21.1pc in April compared with April last year as pandemic-related restrictions were completely lifted.

Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe, said that April saw the region’s airports the closest yet to a full recovery for passenger traffic.

“The Easter holidays boosted demand, which clearly kept defying inflationary pressures,” he said. “This is quite remarkable when the increase in air fares is more than six times above consumer price inflation.”

The organisation pointed out that consumer price inflation in the eurozone stood at 6.1pc in May this year, while air fares inflation was running at 36pc according to RDC Aviation.

Mr Jankovec noted that some European airports are seeing a significant lag in recovery, however.

He said that just 47pc of Europe’s airports have fully recovered their pre-pandemic passenger volumes.

“This reflects established recovery patterns, notably the prominence of leisure and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) demand, the expansion of ultra-low-cost carriers and tight capacity management from most other airlines,” said Mr Jankovec.

“Along with strikes, the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine and… increased airport competition, these factors all combined to shape the traffic fortunes of airports across Europe,” he added.

Of Europe’s largest airports – those handling more than 25 million passengers a year – Istanbul saw the biggest increase in traffic in April, at 10.8pc, compared with pre-pandemic levels. Dublin Airport saw a 0.9pc increase compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to ACI Europe.

DAA, which operates Dublin Airport and Cork Airport, said on Wednesday that the capital’s gateway saw 3.05 million passengers travel through it in May. That is similar to the number that travelled in the same month in 2019 and up 17pc on 2022 levels.

Dublin Airport is operating at around 2019 levels this summer. It will see as many as 100,000 passengers a day pass through its doors during the busy holiday season.

“The operation at Dublin Airport during the month of May was very stable, continuing the strong performance seen in the opening months of the year,” said DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs.

He said that at least 90pc of Dublin Airport passengers are getting through security screening in under 20 minutes.

Shannon Airport said it saw 7,800 passengers use the gateway last Friday – the highest number in a single day since 2016.

The airport said the traffic was driven by a strong transatlantic performance and an expanded range of UK and other European services.

Ireland West Airport expects to have its busiest year ever in 2023, anticipating 850,000 passengers. A record 77,000 passengers used the airport in April, marking a 7.5pc increase on April 2019.