Brussels (23 December 2021): European airport trade body, ACI Europe, today released preliminary data on the impact of the Omicron variant on European passenger traffic.
Following the first report from South Africa to the WHO of the Omicron variant (24 November 2021), passenger traffic at Europe’s airports is estimated to have fallen by -20%.
However, the past week (week 50), which corresponds with the start of the end-of-the-year Christmas season, saw passenger traffic increasing by +9% over the preceding one (week 49).
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec commented: “It is no surprise that the flight bans to Southern Africa and the patchy travel restrictions imposed by many Governments on other markets – including within Europe – have directly impacted traffic levels in the past weeks. Business travel has been the first to recede, now followed by leisure travel given the extreme uncertainty and prospects of more restrictions both on travel and local life.”
Heathrow back in the top 5
The easing of restrictions for travel to North America during the month of November clearly benefitted the Majors (Top 5 European airports in 2019), as they saw passenger traffic decreasing by -41.6%, up from -45.6% in October.
While Istanbul (-30.4%) remained the busiest European airport, London Heathrow (-50.8%) rejoined the top league for the first time since May 2020, in 5th position. Paris-CDG (-40.8%) came second, followed by Madrid (-35%) and Amsterdam Schiphol (-41.8%).
