Reports from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have indicated a continued recovery in air travel in the year 2023, with global traffic nearing pre-pandemic levels. The data showed that traffic had increased by 36.9% compared to 2022, reaching 94.1% of 2019 levels. December 2023 traffic increased by 25.3%, reaching 97.5% of December 2019 levels. This strong performance in the fourth quarter, at 98.2% of 2019 levels, indicated a robust year-end recovery.
IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, expressed optimism about the strong post-pandemic rebound, stating that the recovery in travel is good news, with December traffic standing just 2.5% below 2019 levels.
Furthermore, international traffic in 2023 surged by 41.6% over 2022, hitting 88.6% of 2019 levels. Similarly, domestic traffic saw a 30.4% rise over 2022, surpassing 2019 levels by 3.9%.
ACI Europe’s report revealed that passenger activity within the EU airport network had experienced a strong +19% year-on-year increase, with total volume reaching -5.4% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels. The growth was mainly fueled by international passenger traffic, which saw a notable increase of +21%, while domestic passenger traffic registered a rise of 11.7%.
Despite the overall improvement, some European countries struggled to achieve a full recovery, with Finland (-29.6%), Slovenia (-26.2%), Germany (-22.4%), and Sweden (-21%) lagging behind. However, airports in Portugal, Greece, Iceland, Malta, and Poland showcased strong performance. The five major EU airports also saw a surge in passenger traffic by +20.8% in 2023 compared to 2022, despite remaining ‑6.5% below their pre-pandemic levels.
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