ACI Europe: Athens Airport Records Highest March Growth vs Pre-Covid 2019

Athens International Airport.

Athens International Airport (AIA) was the top performing airport of its size in March compared to pre-pandemic 2019 recording a 21.5 percent rise, found the latest air traffic data released by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe).

The Greek capital’s airport was followed by Lisbon (up by 19 percent), Palma de Mallorca PMI (+17.5 percent), Antalya AYT (+14.7 percent), and Istanbul SAW (+11 percent).

Athens Airport was also among the airports in its category (mega airports) that reported the highest increases in passenger traffic compared to March 2023, up by 20.1 percent.

According to ACI Europe data, passenger traffic across the European airport network rose by 10.2 percent in March compared to the same month in 2023 driven largely by international traffic which was up by 11.7 percent. Compared to 2019, passenger traffic was still down by 1.5 percent.

In the first three months of the year (Q1), passenger traffic across the European airports grew by 10.2 percent compared to Q1 2023 but still down by 1.3 percent over Q1 2019.

Travel demand is going strong prompting ACI analysts to revise their forecast for 2024 upward to 3.2 percent above pre-pandemic levels.

“Overall, passenger traffic has kept growing dynamically during the first three months of the year. While the Catholic Easter holidays coming earlier helped, demand for air travel generally remained strong against a background of modestly improving macro-economic conditions in the EU and the UK,” said ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec.

According to the report, EU airports led passenger growth in March, up by 11.5 percent over the same month last year. The highest increases compared to March 2023 were posted by airports in the Czech Republic (+32.6 percent), Malta (+30 percent), and Slovenia (+22.7 percent). The weakest performances came from airports in Sweden (-1.2 percent), Norway (+0.3 percent), and Finland (+2.5 percent).

When compared to March 2019, the EU+ market stood at -1.4 percent, with airports predominantly relying on leisure/VFR4 demand largely exceeding their pre-pandemic volumes. Airports in Greece reported a 19.6 percent rise.

Looking ahead, Jankovec expects full-year passenger volumes to exceed pre-Covid volumes by 3.2 percent instead of 1.4 percent initially forecast.

Traffic through Europe’s busiest airports in March grew by 10.1 percent over March 2023 but was down by 1.8 percent over March 2019. Leading the way London Heathrow with activity there up by 7.9 percent over March 2023 and 3 percent over March 2019), followed by Istanbul (+2.7 percent), and Paris-CDG (+6.6 percent).

In its category, Athens Airport was among those reporting the highest increases in March up by 20.1 percent over the same month a year ago and by 21.5 percent over March 2019. Others in the same category were Antalya (+32 percent), Prague (+31.2 percent), Budapest (+21.7 percent), and Alicante (+21.3 percent).

Meanwhile, freight traffic across the European airport network in March increased by 7.6 percent compared to the same period last year, with EU+ airports up by 7.5 percent and those in the rest of Europe by 8.2 percent.

Aircraft movements also rose by 6.2 percent in March over the same month last year but were down by 8 percent below over pre-pandemic March.