Advancing UK Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space Solutions Worldwide
  • Home
  • /
  • Aerospace
  • /
  • Europe’s airports report February passengers up 6.5%, freight up 5.7%

Aerospace

Europe’s airports report February passengers up 6.5%, freight up 5.7%

European airport trade association, ACI EUROPE today releases its traffic report for February 2018, during which average passenger traffic in geographical Europe grew by +6.5% compared with the same month last year.

As in previous months, the non-EU market led the growth dynamic at +10.8%, on the back of Turkish airports increasing their passenger traffic by an impressive +17.5%. Gains were especially strong at airports in Georgia (+36%), Israel (+17.1%), Ukraine (+15.1%), Iceland (+11.7%) as well as in the smaller markets of FYROM (+21.8%), Bosnia-Herzegovina (+19.1%) and Montenegro (+17.2%). 

Advertisement
Teledyne

Meanwhile, passenger traffic growth in the EU market expanded by +5.2% - the exact same growth pace as in January. Airports in the Eastern and Southern parts of the bloc along with Finland and Luxembourg significantly outperformed this average.  Accordingly, the following capital city airports all registered double-digit growth in passenger traffic: Malta (+17.9%), Riga (+17.6%), Vilnius (+16.9%), Bratislava (+16.7%), Luxembourg (+16.1%), Budapest (+15.9%), Lisbon (+14.9%), Tallinn (+14.3%), Prague (+13.4%), Warsaw (+12.8%), Helsinki (+11.9%), Larnaca (+11%), Zagreb (+10.4%) and Ljubljana (+10.2%).

The demise of Monarch Airlines and Air Berlin continued to weigh on the performance of a number of airports mainly in the UK and Germany - as evidenced by declines in passenger traffic at Birmingham (-5.5%), Dusseldorf (-7.4%) and Berlin TXL (-8.2%). Adverse winter conditions, as well as a number of airline strikes also contributed to lower growth in these countries and in France and Ireland.

The Majors (top 5 European airports) saw passenger volumes increase by +7.7%, driven by Istanbul-Atatürk (17.7%), Amsterdam-Schiphol (+9.6%) and Frankfurt (8.5%). Lower growth at Paris CDG (+2.6%) reflected the above-mentioned weather and airline strikes disruptions, while capacity constraints keep limiting traffic gains at London-Heathrow (+2.4%).

Some large regional airports posted an impressive rise in passenger traffic, driven by particularly successful network development strategies - including: Heraklion (+40.3%), Naples (+41.5%), Sevilla (+32.3%), Valencia (+28.2%), Krakow (+24.6%) and Palermo (+22.1%).

Freight traffic retained its recent robust growth trend during February at +5.7%. Aircraft movements were up +3.0% - increasing by +2.4% in the EU market and by +4.8% in the non-EU bloc.

During the month of February, airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between 5 and 10 million passengers (Group 3) and airports welcoming less than 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) reported an average adjustment +5.8%, +6.8%, +7.8% and +7.5%.

The airports that reported the highest increases in passenger traffic during February 2018 (compared with February 2017) are as follows:

GROUP 1: Istanbul IST (+17.7%), Istanbul SAW (+15.5%), Lisbon (+14.9%), Amsterdam & Moscow SVO (+9.6%) and Madrid (+9.3%)

Advertisement
Teledyne

GROUP 2: Ankara (+38.6%), Tel Aviv (+19.2%), Budapest (+15.9%), Milan MXP (+13.9%) and Stuttgart (+13.8%)

GROUP 3: Naples (+41.5%), Heraklion (+40.3%), Sevilla (+32.3%), Valencia (+28.2%) and Krakow (+24.6%)

GROUP 4: Zadar (+75.6%), Varna (+75%), Craiova (+62.6%), Lublin (+54%) and Tbilisi (+39%)

The 'ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report – February 2018 includes 241 airports in total representing more than 88% of European air passenger traffic.

ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Reports are unique in that they are the only ones to include all types of airline passenger flights to, from and within Europe: full service, low cost, charter and others.

 

Advertisement
PTC PTC
Flights increase as summer hots up

Aerospace

Flights increase as summer hots up

18 July 2025

UK air traffic in June increased by 2.5% on the same month last year as NATS, the UK’s major provider of air traffic services, safely handled 237,215 flights, up more than 2,600 on May.

ZeroAvia granted patents for hydrogen-electric engine development

Aerospace

ZeroAvia granted patents for hydrogen-electric engine development

17 July 2025

ZeroAvia today announced it has been awarded nine new patents this year so far, with many critical to the company’s roadmap for scaling hydrogen-electric engines for large regional aircraft.

BBGA co-hosts Isle of Man Aviation Conference

Aerospace

BBGA co-hosts Isle of Man Aviation Conference

17 July 2025

For the first time, the British Business General Aviation Association (BBGA) joined Martyn Fiddler as joint hosts of the 13th Isle of Man Aviation Conference, bringing together 120 business aviation delegates at Douglas’ Villa Marina venue.

Flying to become more accessible for disabled people

Aerospace

Flying to become more accessible for disabled people

16 July 2025

An industry and consumer expert group, tasked by the UK Government to advise on how to make flying more accessible for disabled people, has unveiled its suite of recommendations today.

Advertisement
DSEI 2025
Doncasters expands Groton site with new shell line

Aerospace

Doncasters expands Groton site with new shell line

15 July 2025

Doncasters today announced the successful commissioning of a brand-new, fully automated shell line, at its Groton facility in the US - a major milestone within its 2025 Performance Improvement Plan and a key advancement in the company’s long-term manufacturing strategy.

ZeroAvia and Horizon Aircraft to explore hydrogen eVTOL propulsion

Aerospace

ZeroAvia and Horizon Aircraft to explore hydrogen eVTOL propulsion

15 July 2025

ZeroAvia and Horizon Aircraft today announced plans to work together on developing regional hydrogen-electric VTOL air travel.

Advertisement
DSEI 2025