Brussels: An impressive rebound in passenger traffic across the European airport network has been present in the second quarter of June and the first half of 2023, as the European airport trade body, ACI EUROPE, revealed in a report on July 31.

During the first half of 2023, passenger traffic surged by 28.3 per cent compared to last year.

International traffic played a significant role, growing at a remarkable rate of 32.3 per cent, outpacing domestic traffic’s growth rate of 16.6 per cent. The pace of growth slowed down in the second quarter of June, with a growth rate of 16.3 per cent compared to the explosive growth of 49 per cent in the first quarter.

The easing of COVID-10 restrictions on intra-European travel from April last year contributed to this substantial recovery.

Despite the progress, passenger volume in the first half of 2023 remained -7.7 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. However, there has been a steady improvement from -11 per cent in January to -5.9 per cent in June, indicating the network’s path toward a full recovery.

The Director General of ACI EUROPE, Olivier Jankovec, acknowledged the encouraging rebound in passenger traffic over the past six months, moving closer to pre-pandemic levels.

“There are significant variations in performance across national markets, and volumes still remain below their pre-pandemic levels for more than half (52 per cent) of Europe’s airports. Apart from the lasting impact of the war in Ukraine on some markets, this is largely due to recovery patterns becoming structural,” Jankovec stated.

-B