Smaller airports show the biggest gains in Europe

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October passenger figures from ACI Europe reveal that regional airports continue to drive growth

Passenger traffic at European airports increased by an average of 6.9% in October compared with the same month in 2003, according to the latest figures from ACI Europe.

The figures, released today, show that smaller airports, such as Girona, Riga and Vilnius, enjoyed the strongest growth. At Girona passenger traffic was up by 89.5% and at Riga numbers were up by 40.8%. At Vilnius traffic rose by 36.9%. On average, passenger numbers at airports with fewer than 5m passengers a year were up by 10.6% compared with October 2003, and by 20.3% on October 2002 levels.

The airports with the next biggest gains in traffic in October were medium-sized facilities with 5?10m passengers a year. These include Prague, where traffic was up by 27%; Cologne/Bonn, up by 14.3%; and Stuttgart, up by 14.2%. The average increase was 5.3% compared with last year, but 13.5% on 2002 figures.

Airports that welcome between 10m and 25m passengers a year enjoyed an average increase in traffic of 7.5% compared with October 2003. Palma de Mallorca recorded a 16.4% rise; Athens saw numbers go up by 14% and Munich traffic increased by 12.8%. When compared with October 2002 the average increase was 11.4%.

The biggest airports in the region, those with more than 25m passengers a year, enjoyed an average increase in traffic of 4.2%. These include London Gatwick, where traffic was up by 8.1%, Madrid Barajas, up by 5.6%, and Frankfurt, up 4.9%. The average increase compared with October 2002 was 6.5%.

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