Europe’s airports need ‘massive investment’ to avoid increasing bottleneck

European airports association ACI Europe has forecast a slowdown in growth in air traffic this year as travel growth “normalises” post-Covid, with passenger numbers in Europe predicted to rise 3.3% this year on last following a 4.4% increase in 2025.

However, the association warned EU and UK airports “face massive investment needs” if they are to handle increasing passenger numbers, “strengthen resilience and deliver on climate and sustainability objectives”.

An ACI Europe report on the financial viability of Europe’s airports, based on research by the Boston Consulting Group and published last week, suggests Europe’s airports need investment totalling €360 billion by 2040.

ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec hailed “a new record” for European air passengers of 2.6 billion in 2025, 100 million more than in 2024 despite “lacklustre economies, inflated airfares [and] significant supply and capacity pressures”, and he described growth of 6.1% in the final quarter of last year as “a positive signal for 2026”.

However, he warned: “Capacity on the ground and in the air will remain a bottleneck. We’re especially concerned [about] the full rollout of the [EU] Schengen Entry-Exit System from April.”

The ACI Europe report, entitled ‘Decoupling Financial Viability from Volume Growth’, warns: “Structural changes in the aviation market and its economics – including slower traffic growth – are putting airports’ financial viability under severe strain . . . creating unprecedented downward pressures on revenues and upward pressures on costs.”

It states that airports “will simply be unable to generate sufficient capital to finance their investment needs”, when that investment is “critical to modernise the European airport network”.

ACI Europe president Stefan Schulte, chief executive of Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport, said: “Europe’s airports’ financial viability can no longer rely on the assumption of dynamic traffic growth.” 

He argued investment could only come through “growing unit revenue from airport charges and non–aeronautical [retail] activities, along with efficiency gains”, a fact that “national regulators need to wake up to”.

Schulte called for “stability and predictability” in EU and UK rules on airport charges along with urgent revision of airport slot rules in the EU and UK, aid for smaller regional airports and “regulatory support for the deployment of biometrics and security rather than regulatory hindrance”.

ACI Europe reported traffic numbers at small airports remain 33% down on 2019.