ACI Europe: Athens Airport Dynamic Strong in August

Photo Source: @Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”

Athens International Airport (AIA) is in tune with the positive European airport trend, maintaining a strong dynamic in terms of passenger traffic, which was up by 13.4 percent in August, European airport trade association ACI Europe said last week.

EU airports recorded a 4.6 percent rise in passenger traffic in August, up from 4.3 percent in July. Meanwhile, aircraft movements also increased by 3.7 percent, stronger by 3.4 percent in the EU market and by 4.5 percent in the non-EU bloc.

Baltic States, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia registered double-digit growth as did most Eastern states, along with Luxembourg and Austria, which increased Low Cost Carrier penetration.

Besides Greece’s upward dynamic, Malta also performed well up by 9.6 percent.

The weakest players in August were the airports of Sweden and the UK.

“These figures show how demand for air transport has generally remained dynamic despite increasing economic and geopolitical uncertainties in Europe and beyond,” said Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe.

“While Low Cost Carriers generally continue to stimulate demand, there is no escaping these uncertainties. Higher oil prices are also starting to weigh on air traffic performance. For now, all eyes are on the Brexit negotiations – not just because of the potential disruptions a no-deal outcome would have on air connectivity, but for the wider economic consequences that would inevitably follow,” Jankovec said.

Passenger traffic at non-EU airports was up by 6.7 percent, accounting for the bulk of the growth deceleration – down from 10.5 percent in the first half of the year.

Turkey’s airports marked a 5 percent decline in passenger traffic from 7.2 percent in July, a reflection, ACI says, of the country’s economic woes.

At the same time, however, airports in Albania, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, FYROM, Georgia, Iceland, Montenegro, and Ukraine achieved double-digit growth.

More specifically, Europe’s leading five airports saw passenger traffic underperform the European average at 3.3 percent due to nearly flat results at Istanbul-Ataturk (0.5 percent).

Airports in the less-than-5-million-passengers category outperformed the European average, with passenger traffic up by 6.6 percent.

In the meantime, the ACI report goes on to note that freight traffic stalled in August by 0.3 percent marking its worst monthly performance since March 2016.