European airport passenger numbers almost doubled last year to 1.94 billion but remained 21% below pre-pandemic levels.
Latest data from trade body ACI Europe said that just 27% of Europe’s airports had fully recovered their 2019 passenger levels.
While the sector was reported to have “turned the corner” from Covid-19, recovery is not complete.
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Istanbul remained the busiest European airport in 2022, handling 64.3 million passengers and almost recovering its pre-pandemic traffic volume (-6.2%).
Heathrow, with 61.6 million passengers, was 23.8% down on 2019 and came in second position. However, the London hub recovered its position as the busiest European airport in November.
Paris-CDG with 57.5 million passengers held the third position, followed by Amsterdam Schiphol at 52.5 million passengers. Madrid, with 50.6 million passengers, surpassed Frankfurt with 48.9 million.
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec said: “This is not yet a full recovery. Europe’s airports were still short 500 million passengers in 2022 compared to where they stood before the pandemic hit.
“And there were significant gaps in traffic performance between hubs and smaller regional airports as well as across national markets”.
He noted cautious optimistic about the future: “There is still a lot of uncertainty about 2023, not least because of geopolitical tensions and the fact there is no end in sight for the war in Ukraine.
“But the traffic outlook is getting better thanks to demand headwinds easing somewhat with the reopening of China, recession fears for Europe subsiding and inflation softening.
“This should help in reducing the current traffic gaps and getting more airports closer to their pre-pandemic volumes.
“However, supply pressures are likely to remain significant given the structural capacity reductions made by most airlines during the pandemic, their strong focus on increasing yields through higher air fares rather than market share, aircraft delivery delays and labour shortages still being an issue in some markets.”
He described 2022 as the year “in which we finally learned how to live and travel with Covid-19”.
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