III.2. Passenger traffic of airports in Europe

III.2. Passenger traffic of airports in Europe

The Airport Council International Europe (ACI-EUROPE¹²), the European division of the worldwide international organization of airports classifies the airports in 4 categories in one of their publications¹³:

• 
  small regional airport have less than 5 million passengers/year,
  
• 
  regional airports have 5 – 10 million passengers/year,
  
• 
  secondary hubs have 10 – 25 million passengers/year and
  
• 
  major hubs have more than 25 million passengers/year.
  

• 
  38,3% had less than 100.000 passengers in 2010;
  
• 
  28,1% of the airports served 100.000-1,000.000 passengers in this year;
  
• 
  21,6% of the airports had 1 – 5 million passengers and
  
• 
  only 12,0% of the airports had more than 5 million passengers.
  

From the perspective of passenger traffic the data shows that

• 
  6,1% of all the European airports are regional airports;
  
• 
  another 3,9% of the European airports are secondary hubs and
  
• 
  only 2,0% of the European airports are major hubs.
  

TOP 10 European airports’ passenger and cargo traffic, 2010

Main air passenger connections in Europe in 2010

. figure

In some smaller airports almost the total of passengers (97 – 100%) are from the EU (4 airports in France, 3 in Spain, 2 in Norway and 1–1 in Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Sweden). Those airports also have a very special local importance, as they are connected just with only 1–2 destinations and – except of Stockholm-Bromma airport – have less than 1 million passengers in a year.

The remaining 301 airports European airports, which have more than 100.000 passengers in terms of intra-European traffic, served between 60-97% of the total number of passengers in European destinations (see . figureError: Reference source not found).

Number of airports by intra-European traffic, 2010

. figure

The “best connected” airports of Europe (TOP12) are listed below in . table.

. table

In large countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland there are large distances between cities and the air-traffic is the natural solution for long distance journeys. Therefore in these countries one or more local hubs (like Helsinki) emerged, serving the small other national airports that are also connected with other airports too. But these hubs are mainly of local importance although they could serve some intercontinental destinations as well.

In other large countries like Germany, France or the United Kingdom there are real intercontinental hubs which play a regional role as well. But in these countries – aside from these big intercontinental hubs – there are real regional hubs too, which are connected with a large number of other cities in the country or in the larger geographical region (e.g. Stuttgart, or Düsseldorf).

Number of airports by yearly flight operations, 2010

. figure

The Mediterranean holiday destinations are also well connected within Europe, mainly during the peak vacation season. Therefore in these countries there are some airports with a large number of passengers that have limited regional importance (from the point of view of the terrestrial traffic to other destinations within the country), only the destination gives them a special significance, like the Greek holiday islands (e.g. Corfu, Santorini etc.)

Not only the number of passengers and the destinations but the number of operations is very concentrated. 66,7% of the majority of airports, have less than 20.000 operations (landing and take-off together) in a year. This means that the mean figure for daily operations is less than 55. On the other end of the list are the major hubs (2,5% of the total) that serve more than 550 landings and take-offs every day. (see . figureError: Reference source not found.)

Also the frequency of the connections shows high concentration. The majority (66,0%) of airports have generally less than 2,5 flights/day to the different destinations, only 4,0% of airports have more than 5 flights as an average to each of other airports. (. figure)

. figure