Brussels, Belgium – 2012-11-15 — /travelprnews.com/ — Over the summer months (June to September included), European traffic has been close to the last forecast published in May 2012. Nevertheless, high oil prices, a weaker economic outlook and other factors have all led to a downwards revision of the forecast. The forecast update is for 1.5% fewer flights in 2012 and a stagnation in 2013.
The number of flights in European airspace in summer 2012 fell by 1.5% when compared to summer 2011. This hides large disparities between different types of market segments with some posting growth and others large decreases.
The overall drop in the summer traffic for 2012 was driven by a fall (-3.7%) in traditional scheduled flights. This was only partially offset by an increase in the two other main categories: low-cost (up 4.4%) and charter (up 3.9%).
Table 1: Breakdown of traffic per market segment
| Market Segment | Average daily flights | Market share | Growth on 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-Cargo | 944 | 3.2% | -5.7% |
| Business Aviation | 2,157 | 7.3% | -3.5% |
| Charter | 2,044 | 6.9% | 3.9% |
| Low-cost | 7,847 | 26.7% | 4.4% |
| Other | 1,065 | 3.6% | -10.6% |
| Traditional Scheduled | 15,382 | 52.2% | -3.7% |
| TOTAL | 29,439 | 100% | -1.5% |
A further analysis reveals the recent pattern experienced in European airspace: traffic is gradually shifting from West to East. The busiest airports on a daily basis depict an imbalanced picture as half of them grow and the remaining shrink. The shift is illustrated by two airports in opposite regions. Madrid Barajas (-12.1%) and Istanbul-Ataturk (+12.3%) show the biggest changes in percentage points.
Table 2: 10 busiest departure airports per average daily departures
| Rank | Departure airport | Average daily departures | % change vs. Summer 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PARIS CH DE GAULLE | 716 | -3.6% |
| 2 | FRANKFURT MAIN | 700 | 1.6% |
| 3 | LONDON/HEATHROW | 666 | -1.4% |
| 4 | SCHIPHOL AMSTERDAM | 649 | 0.4% |
| 5 | MUENCHEN 2 | 564 | -3.0% |
| 6 | MADRID BARAJAS | 538 | -12.1% |
| 7 | ISTANBUL-ATATURK | 518 | 12.3% |
| 8 | ROME FIUMICINO | 485 | -1.7% |
| 9 | BARCELONA | 459 | 0.7% |
| 10 | LONDON/GATWICK | 393 | 0.0% |
Spain and Turkey were also the countries with the highest variability in terms of city pairs. Istanbul-Izmir grew remarkably compared to the previous year. Two major Spanish pairs showed substantial decreases: Barcelona-Madrid and Barcelona-Palma. These were the only three pairs to have fluctuations of over ±10%.
Table 3: 10 busiest airport pairs per number of daily flights
| Rank | Departure airport | Arrival airport | Average daily movements
(both directions) |
% change vs. Summer 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ISTANBUL-ATATURK | IZMIR-ADNAN-MENDERES | 64 | 13.8% |
| 2 | BARCELONA | MADRID BARAJAS | 55 | -22.5% |
| 3 | ISTANBUL-ATATURK | ANTALYA | 50 | 3.5% |
| 4 | PARIS ORLY | TOULOUSE BLAGNAC | 48 | 5.3% |
| 5 | PARIS ORLY | NICE | 47 | 4.3% |
| 6 | BARCELONA | PALMA DE MALLORCA | 45 | -10.4% |
| 7 | OSLO/GARDERMOEN | TRONDHEIM/VAERNES | 45 | 4.1% |
| 8 | OSLO/GARDERMOEN | BERGEN/FLESLAND | 44 | -2.0% |
| 9 | ROME FIUMICINO | MILANO LINATE | 43 | 0.2% |
| 10 | OSLO/GARDERMOEN | STAVANGER/SOLA | 41 | 4.6% |
Some of the main European hubs appear on the top 10 departure airports most affected by all-causes of delay. During the summer, airports situated in typical tourist destinations joined the list. With the exception of Paris Charles de Gaulle, all the departure airports among the top 10 most affected are to be found in the UK or the Iberian peninsula. The summer 2012 average all-cause delay per flight was 9.4 min which represents a reduction of 18% compared to 2011. The percentage of flights delayed by more than 5 minutes also fell by 3.8% year on year.
Table 4: 10 airports with highest departure delay per flight
| Rank | Departure airport | Average Delay per flight (min) | % of delayed flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LISBOA | 19.0 | 60.1% |
| 2 | MANCHESTER | 16.4 | 46.7% |
| 3 | LONDON/GATWICK | 13.7 | 48.3% |
| 4 | PALMA DE MALLORCA | 12.7 | 46.4% |
| 5 | IBIZA | 12.7 | 40.9% |
| 6 | LONDON/HEATHROW | 12.4 | 48.1% |
| 7 | PARIS CH DE GAULLE | 12.0 | 52.3% |
| 8 | ALICANTE | 12.0 | 44.0% |
| 9 | MALAGA | 11.9 | 41.8% |
| 10 | LONDON/LUTON | 11.9 | 40.4% |
For more information on forecasts, please refer to the Seven-Year Flight Forecast – Flight Movements 2012-2018.
Related links
Statistics and Forecasts service (STATFOR)
Central Office for Delay Analysis (CODA)
Related Documents
- Press release pdf – 29.679 kB
NOTE TO EDITORS
This press release was prepared using data from STAFOR and CODA. STATFOR, the Statistics and Forecasts service (STATFOR) provides statistics and forecasts on air traffic in Europe and analyses its evolution. The Central Office for Delay Analysis (CODA) provides policy makers and managers of the ECAC Air Transport System with the relevant information on the air traffic delay situation in Europe. EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, has as its primary objective to develop a seamless, pan-European air traffic management (ATM) system that fully copes with the growth in air traffic, while maintaining a high level of safety, reducing costs and respecting the environment. EUROCONTROL has 39 Member States: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. On 8 October 2002, the Member States and the European Community signed a Protocol on the Accession of the European Community to the revised EUROCONTROL Convention. Pending its entry into force after ratification by all Parties, certain provisions of the Protocol are already being provisionally applied.
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