Europe’s airports record soaring passenger traffic growth in April as Turkey bounces back to “full recovery”

European airports recorded a surge in passenger traffic in April, growing by 14.1 per cent compared with the same time last year.

According to European airport trade association ACI Europe, ongoing strong demand as well as airline capacity expansion helped, along with air traffic picking back up in Turkey.

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However, it did add that there were a number of “one-off and exceptional” factors that distorted the comparison with last year’s April, as that month was severely impacted by the Brussels terror attacks, air traffic controller strikes in France, and the move of Easter from March to April this year.

Still, every national market across Europe reported passenger traffic increases in April this year, and within the European Union, 22 countries posted double digit growth, with Bulgaria up 51 per cent, Croatia up 34.1 per cent and Cyprus posting a rise of 29.7 per cent. In the non-EU market, ACI Europe said Turkey’s bounce back to “full recovery” was particularly notable after “months of incremental gains”.

The positive news across European airports for April comes as airline industry body IATA has just bumped up its forecasts for 2017 too.

Forecasting a third straight year of solid earnings, IATA, which represents 275 of the world’s airlines, has raised its industry profit outlook to $31.4bn (£24.4bn), up from its previous prediction of $29.8bn.

It has also raised its forecast for industry revenue for 2017 to $743bn, from $736bn, bolstered by the belief that the global economy is set to post its strongest growth in six years.

The industry body said the positive forecast for airlines despite the challenges comes as “passengers are benefiting from modern fleets, expanded networks and more product choice”, with strong demand “driving profitability”.

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