Air traffic in Europe reaches 83% of its pre-pandemic level in 2022

The air traffic Europe last year reached 83% of the level it had in 2019, before the health crisis, a “solid” rebound driven by low-cost companies and destinations in southern Europe, Eurocontrol announced on Monday.

The body that supervises air traffic postponed its estimate of the date of return of the pre-crisis level by one year, until 2025, due to the weakness of the economy recovery and the risk that the war launched by Russia against Ukraine will persist.

The airlines and the airports recorded 2 billion passengers last year, up from 2.42 billion in 2019, with stark “disparities” between countries and companies.

These figures include all departures and arrivals to European territory.

In this sense, Germany reached 75% of the level of traffic it had before the crisis in 2022, compared to 86% in France, 91% in Spain and 96% in Portugal.

In contrast, in Greece air traffic reached 101% of the volume of three years ago.

According to company data, the low cost carriers They emerged stronger from the crisis, reaching 85% of traffic compared to 2019, compared to 75% of traditional airlines.

“In 2022, European aviation weathered the storm,” summed up Eurocontrol.

Eurocontrol projects that the number of annual flights in the area will reach 92% of the 2019 level this year, but foresees a “difficult” year due to the challenge of limiting delays, a scourge that affected many travelers at the beginning of the boreal summer of 2022.