Luxembourg among the leaders in air transportation in Europe
In its latest report, ACI EUROPE found that in the peak month of July, passenger traffic at European airports rose to 97% of the highest pre-pandemic levels.
This is the result of a systemic increase in capacity. In June of this year the difference from pre-pandemic levels was -5.9% and in July, as mentioned above, it was only -3%. Over the past year, the number of passengers has increased by 12.8%. This is despite unprecedented increases in ticket prices and the general cost of living crisis.
According to Olivier Jankovec, Director of ACI EUROPE, this is due to the increased need to travel for leisure, to meet family and friends. However, we must not forget the uneven distribution of the burden on airports and the resulting differences in performance.
In fact, not all hubs experienced growth, but negative figures were often balanced out by strong growth at other airports. The main peaks occurred in countries focused on tourism and transatlantic flights. The following countries reported growth Iceland (+16.2%), Croatia (+15.7%), Greece (+14.8%), Portugal (+10.5%), Luxembourg (+10.5%), Poland (+7.1%), Malta (+6.3%), Cyprus (+3%), Italy (+2.3%), Spain (+1.3%) and Ireland (+0.6%).
Things are not so rosy for the Grand Duchy's neighbors. Germany has one of the largest passenger shortfalls in the EU: 19.2% lower than before COVID-19. France has not fully recovered either but shows a more optimistic trend: only -6.6%.
Luxembourg, on the other hand, did not make it to the top of the rankings for freight transport. Although Cargolux remains one of the largest carriers, the capacity of Findel Airport itself is significantly lower than that of its foreign competitors.
