The number of passengers using European airports in the peak summer month of July came closest ever to a full recovery to pre-Covid levels.
Trade body Airports Council International (ACI) Europe reported traffic had recovered to just 3% below the same month in 2019, an improvement over the 5.9% shortfall in June.
Passenger numbers were up by almost 13% over July 2022.
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec said: “These headline figures are symptomatic of a shift from material to experiential consumption, with people valuing travel for leisure and for meeting friends and relatives across Europe and beyond more than ever.
“The consumer confidence resilience and continued momentum in the traffic recovery is even more remarkable considering the cost-of-living crisis and record increases in air fares.”
He added: “However, performance variations between national and individual airport markets have also become a fixture of our recovery – with 51% of Europe’s airports still below their pre-pandemic passenger traffic volumes.
“These performance variations reflect a mix of factors – from the impact of the war in Ukraine to the impressive but selective capacity expansion of ultra low-cost carriers and relative retrenchment of network carriers, as well as some domestic traffic shifting to other transport modes.”
While German airports posted the worst passenger traffic performance amongst larger markets, airports in the UK (-4.7%) made further progress towards full recovery, followed by those in France (-6.6%).
The best performers came from markets predominantly relying on inbound tourism and/or transatlantic traffic, with airports in Iceland (+16.2%), Croatia (+15.7%), Greece (+14.8%), Portugal (+10.5%), Luxembourg (+10.5%), Poland (+7.1%), Malta (+6.3%), Cyprus (+3%), Italy (+2.3%), Spain (+1.3%) and Ireland (+0.6%) all exceeding their pre-pandemic levels.
At the other end of the spectrum, airports in Finland (-31%), Slovenia (-27.4%), Bulgaria (-22.9%), Germany (-19.2%) and Sweden (-17.9%) remained the farthest from a full recovery, according to the new data.
Heathrow (-1.2%) asserted its position as the busiest European airport and came close to achieving a full recovery, while Istanbul (+16.5%) remained the only major airport exceeding its pre-pandemic passenger volumes.
The Turkish hub was followed by Paris-CDG (-11.5%), Frankfurt (-13.1%) and Amsterdam Schiphol (-10.6%).