ACI Europe: Athens Airport Among Best Performing in 2023

Athens International Airport (AIA) was among the airports in its size group to report the best performance in passenger traffic for the full year in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic 2019, found data released this week by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe).

According to ACI Europe’s airport traffic report, in the group of airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (see right), Athens Airport surpassed 2019 levels by 10.1 percent in 2023, after Istanbul (+11.0 percent) and followed by Lisbon (+7.9 percent), Palma de Mallorca (+4.7 percent) and Istanbul (+4.6 percent).

Moreover, Athens Airport came in first among those traditionally relying on leisure and VFR traffic and with a notable presence of Low-Cost Carriers often surpassing their pre-pandemic (2019) volumes: Athens (+10.1 percent), Lisbon (+7.9 percent), Palma de Mallorca (+4.7 percent), Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen (+4.6 percent), Dublin (+1.8 percent) and Paris-Orly (+1.4 percent).

Greece’s airports were also among the best-performing in the EU, exceeding 2019 levels in 2023 by 12.1 percent after those in Portugal (+12.2 percent), and followed by Iceland (+6.9 percent), Malta (+6.7 percent), and Poland (+4.5 percent).

Airports still lagging behind 2019 last year, were the airports of  Finland (-29.6 percent), Slovenia (-26.2 percent), Germany (-22.4 percent) and Sweden (-21 percent).

2.3 billion passengers welcomed by Europe’s airports in 2023

Photo source: ACI Europe

Overall in 2023, EU passenger traffic was up by 19 percent over 2022 but still down by 5.4 percent over pre-pandemic volumes with Europe’s airports welcoming 2.3 billion passengers. ACI analysts attribute the rise to international strong passenger traffic, which was up by 21 percent, and to domestic traffic (+11.7 percent).

In the largest EU markets, airports in Spain were the only ones having fully recovered up by 3 percent over pre-pandemic 2019, followed by those in Italy (-2 percent), France (-5.4 percent), the UK (-6.4 percent) Germany.

The busiest airports in Europe in 2023, according to ACI were: London-Heathrow, Istanbul, Paris-CDG, Amsterdam-Schiphol and Madrid where passenger traffic increased by 20.8 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year or up by an additional 58 million passengers.

“This robust growth resulted in Europe’s airports welcoming 2.3 billion passengers through their doors last year – an impressive result considering the prevailing inflationary pressures and higher air fares as well as heightened geopolitical tensions,” said ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec.

However, he added that 2023 has also been “a year of multi-speed recovery and great divergences for Europe’s airports in terms of passenger traffic. While many exceeded their previous yearly record in passenger volumes, 57 percent still remained below their pre-pandemic volumes”.

Among others, Jankovec attributed the “significant performance gaps” to geopolitical conflicts, Covid-19 induced structural changes in the aviation market, and the fact that “Ultra Low‑Cost Carriers are selectively expanding and Full Service Carriers retrenching on their hubs and driving consolidation”.

Looking ahead, Jankovec said performance gaps will narrow but not close forecasting a 7.2 percent increase in passenger traffic in 2024 over 2023, and approximately 1.4 percent above pre-pandemic volumes.