The airport industry has finally turned the corner on the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Airports Council International’s (ACI) 2022 traffic report for the European region. Passenger traffic across the European airport network nearly doubled (+98%) in 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching 1.94 billion passengers.
Last year, major air connectivity hubs, the 5 best performing in terms of passenger numbers of which are simply known as the Majors, saw over 50 million passengers, inching closer to the traffic they saw before the pandemic put a stop to travel.
Overall, passenger traffic at the Majors increased by +114% in 2022 compared to the previous year, but remained 22.6% below pre-pandemic levels, according to ACI Europe. This was largely due to the continuation of travel restrictions by some Asian countries and network airlines still limiting capacity deployment.
1. Istanbul
Turley’s new Istanbul Airport (IST) welcomed 64.3 million passengers in 2022. Although the airport had to close down due to the pandemic soon after its opening in April 2019, its convenient location quickly turned it into a major transit hub, connecting Europe and Asia. Besides being the busiest European airport last year, out of the Majors, IST is the one that got closest to fully recovering its pre-pandemic traffic, being only 6.2% the 2019 figures.
2. London Heathrow
Despite several strikes and passenger caps, London’s Heathrow Airport came in second position. It welcomed 61.6 million passengers and although it recovered its position as the busiest European airport as of November 2022, it still lags 23.8% behind its pre-pandemic traffic.
3. Paris Charles de Gaulle
Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport came in third among the busiest airports in Europe. The French hub saw 57.5 million passengers last year, still 24.5% less than the 76.2 million people that passed through it in 2019.
4. Amsterdam Schiphol
Amsterdam’s Schiphol closely followed CDG, having welcomed 52.5 million passengers in 2022. The airport’s recovery was severely impacted by staff shortages, leading the airport to implement a passenger cap until March 2023 to be able to manage the influx of passengers. Nevertheless, the disruptions and endless queues still made people call Schiphol the “worst airport ever”.
5. Madrid Barajas
Madrid’s Barajas Airport (MAD) closed the top 5 league, surpassing Frankfurt. The airport welcomed 50.6 million passengers in 2022 and was the second closest to fully recovering its 2019 traffic after IST, being only 18% behind its pre-pandemic figures.
