ACI Europe extends expected recovery timeframe to 2024

Airports body ACI Europe does not expect passenger traffic to regain 2019 levels until 2024 – a year later than in its previous projection. Demand for air travel in Europe is returning “at a slower pace than we had hoped for”, states ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec, and this has prompted the trade association to paint a more pessimistic picture of the sector’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. Passenger traffic across Europe’s airports fell 93% in June compared with the same month in 2019. While this was a slight improvement from the 98% drop recorded in May, it fell short of ACI Europe’s expectations. The body is now forecasting that only 19% of July 2019’s passenger traffic will be recovered in same month this year, after previously predicting 30%. “This is down to the still-incomplete lifting of travel restrictions within the EU/Schengen area and the UK, as well as the permanence of travel bans for most other countries,” states Jankovec. Passenger numbers at European airports are likely to be down 64% in 2020 compared with last year, while revenues will fall 67%, ACI Europe predicts. It says those flights that have been reinstated across the continent are “generally achieving low load factors” – bad news for airport revenues.<br/>