Tuesday 3 January 2023 – 3.10pm
BRUSSELS, January 3rd / WAM / European air traffic is back at 83% of 2019 levels, in a strong recovery driven above all by low-cost airlines and southern European holiday destinations, as announced by the control group of the Eurocontrol air traffic in Brussels.
Despite this strong performance, the European body is still delaying its estimates for a full return to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, citing weak economic recovery and inflation.
Last year, European airlines and airports received around two billion passengers, up from 2.42 billion in 2019, and Eurocontrol indicates that there are stark disparities between countries and carriers.
And Germany recovered only 75% of traffic before the Corona pandemic in 2022, France 86%, Spain 91%, Portugal 96%, and traffic in Greece surpassed the 2019 record of ” 101%” and Albanian traffic increased by 137%.
Low-cost airlines were the biggest winners, taking back 85% of traffic from 2019, compared to 75% for traditional airlines.
Despite the “Omicron” variable, airlines reported traffic numbers up 86% in May 2022, compared to the same period in 2019.
Eurocontrol expects the number of flights this year to reach 92% of 2019 levels, but forecasts a “tough” year as airlines struggle to prevent the delays that plagued travelers last summer and due to staff shortages , the number of scheduled flights to and from Europe plummeted to 72% and 66% respectively, which is 6-7% less than in 2019.
Abdel Nasser Menem
