Turkish major air hubs Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport emerged among the busiest airports in Europe in their respective categories in the first half of the year, according to recently published industry data.
Passenger traffic across the European airport network increased by 9% in H1 compared to the same period last year, with the pace of growth in the second quarter (plus 8%) remaining very dynamic – although easing somewhat compared to the first quarter (plus 10.2%), Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), said.
The air traffic "finally made it" above pre-pandemic 2019 levels, ACI said in its June report, evaluating the performance in European markets in the second quarter and first half of 2024.
The top five European airports welcomed a total of 174.6 million passengers in the first six months – an increase of 8% over the same period last year and 2% above their pre-pandemic levels.
London Heathrow remained the busiest European airport with 39.8 million passengers in the first half of the year, up 7.4% when compared to the same period a year ago and a surge of 2.8% when compared to the January-June period in 2019.
It was followed by Istanbul Airport, which handled 38.1 million passengers and saw an increase in traffic of 6.9% compared to the first half of 2023 and an 18.1% jump when compared to 2019. Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle ranked third.
"As overall passenger traffic finally made it above 2019 levels over a full six-month period, our industry has now turned the corner on the pandemic," said ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec.
International traffic has been the main growth driver this year, rising 10.3% in the first half compared to the same period last year. Domestic traffic was up 4.2%.
The European airport market, however, has become "extremely fragmented," with only 53% of airports having fully recovered their pre-pandemic passenger volumes by June, Jankovec said.
Since the pandemic, leisure travel and family visits have been the driving force behind travel, benefitting low-cost airlines and holiday sites over traditional airlines and destinations serving business travelers.
Albania has seen the greatest increase, with its volume of air passengers rising 243% from the same period in 2019. Greece, Malta and Portugal also logged strong growth.
Air travel in German airports is still down 17% from before the pandemic, while France was down 4% and Britain 1.1%, hit by a growing preference for video conferences over business trips, and with domestic travel facing greater competition from train routes.
ACI, which classifies airports into five major groups (majors, mega, large, medium, small) said that medium airports posted the best performance in the first half of the year, increasing their traffic by 10.8% compared to last year and largely exceeding their pre-pandemic levels (plus 9.4%).
The report on air traffic also revealed Türkiye's second-largest airport, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport ranked second in the mega category, posting a growth of 18.5% when compared to the first half of 2019.
At the same time, Antalya Airport in Türkiye's tourist hot spot ranked fifth in the same category, posting an increase of 7.1% compared to 2019.
The industry association cited both, Sabiha Gökçen and Antalya Airport to be among the best performers in the first half of the year, along with Rome Fiumicino and Athens.
Air traffic in Antalya rose by 19.8% year-over-year in the first half and by 16.6% on an annual basis at Sabiha Gökçen, the data showed.
The airport on Istanbul's Anatolian side reached a milestone by serving a record 37.1 million passengers in 2023, which came amid an expansion drive and the inauguration of the second runway late last year.
Among the fastest-growing airports in Europe, Sabiha Gökçen serves a total of 165 destinations, including 125 international and 40 domestic routes, and has further expanded its global network by opening nine new international routes since the beginning of this year.