Air passenger traffic continues to rebound towards pre-pandemic levels, according to ACI Europe, despite air fares increasing at several times the rate of inflation.

Passenger numbers increased by 21.1% in April, running to 92.4% of pre-pandemic (April 2019) volumes – a further improvement over Q1, where the deficit to Q1 2019 was -10.6% (vs -7.6% in April).

ACI Europe flagged these increases came against a backdrop of significant air fare inflation in Europe. In May, the rate of consumer price inflation in the Eurozone stood at +6%, whereas European air fares were increasing at six times this rate (+36%).

Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe director general, said April’s figures had brought the sector closer than ever to a "full recovery for passenger traffic", boosted by demand for travel during the Easter period, which he said "defied inflationary pressures".

"This is quite remarkable when the increase in air fares is more than six times above consumer price inflation," said Jankovec.

However, Jankovec warned the recovery was uneven, with some markets faring better than others. "Performance variations remained significant across both national and individual airport markets, with only 47% of Europe’s airports having fully recovered their pre-pandemic passenger volumes," he continued.

"This reflects established recovery patterns, notably the prominence of leisure and VFR demand, the expansion of ultra-low cost carriers and tight capacity management from most other airlines."

Heathrow strength

Other factors highlighted by Jankovec included strikes and the ingoing effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two key headwinds identified by Wizz Air in its annual results announcement on Thursday, as well as increased airport competition. "These factors all combined to shape the traffic fortunes of airports across Europe," he said.

Of Europe’s major airports, Heathrow saw the strongest rebound in April, handling 6.4 million passengers – up 25.9% compared with April 2022 and just 5.9% short of pre-pandemic (April 2019) levels.

The rebound in passenger traffic across Europe’s five largest airports, including Heathrow, was 23.4% in April, with the recovery compared with April 2019 running at 90.2%.