"In tandem with airlines, airports are also being hit, as fewer passengers translates into declining revenues and their capital intensive nature exposes them to the current paralysis in financial markets," said Olivier Jankovec, director general of Airports Council International (ACI EUROPE), commenting on the latest air traffic report.
The latest figures indeed show a "significant" decrease in both passenger and freight traffic in September 2008 in comparison to September 2007. Passenger traffic in European airports decreased by 3.3%, while overall freight traffic fell 7.2%.
Some markets in central and eastern Europe are still reporting passenger growth, while according to ACI, the tendency remains to increase number of airports of all sizes to cope with the economic turmoil and rapidly declining demand.
By contrast, "figures for aircraft movements are still relatively intact, suggesting that airlines have not yet adjusted capacity accordingly," added Jankovec.
A recent report by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) notes that despite the current economic crisis and its impact on airlines and airports, Europe will still face an airport capacity crunch in the near future.
In early November, a new Community Observatory on Airport Capacity was established to advise the Commission on measures to improve the capacity of the European airport network. The observatory will also assist the EU executive in the implementation of the EU action plan for airport capacity, efficiency and safety in Europe.
