European aviation recovered from Covid pandemic; Schiphol still struggling

The European aviation sector has completely recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the trade association ACI Europe. The number of airplane passengers in Europe was 0.4 percent higher than in the first half of 2019, the last year before the pandemic. Compared to the first six months of 2023, there was an increase of nine percent in the number of people who flew by plane.

Despite this, ACI Europe also reported that the number of passengers grew less rapidly in the second quarter of the year compared to the first. Around 10.2 percent more people flew in January, February, and March compared to last year. The rise was eight percent from April to June compared to the previous year.

Although the number of passengers is above the pre-pandemic levels, the recovery cannot be seen in all the airports, said general manager Olivier Jankovec of ACI Europe. “The European aviation market has become extremely fragmented. The passenger volume of just 53 percent of the airports in June has recovered completely from the pandemic.”

ACI Europe said Schiphol is one of the airports that has not recovered yet. Around 31.8 million passengers flew via Schiphol in the last six months, which is 7.9 percent less than in 2019. However, this is an 11 percent rise compared to 2023. London Heathrow was the busiest airport, with 39.8 million passengers, which is 2.8 percent more than before the coronavirus pandemic.

Jankovec expects the rest of summer to go smoothly. He added that whether this will also be the case in the autumn depends on how inflation and unemployment rates develop. It was announced on Wednesday that inflation in the Netherlands has risen to 3.7 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Earlier this year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that the worldwide demand for air travel in February was higher than the level before the coronavirus pandemic for the first time.

The ACI Europe figures show recovery over a more extended period, including during the busy summer season.