Growth remains slow at European airports

Freight volumes at European airports grew by 0.4 per cent year-on-year in August, with Istanbul Atatürk Airport and  Amsterdam Airport Schiphol the only top five hubs to see growth during the month, according to Airports Council International (ACI) Europe.

Frankfurt Airport, the largest freight airport in Europe, saw volumes fall by 4.7 per cent to 162,904 tonnes, while Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, the second biggest dropped by 2.9 per cent to 146,000 tonnes. Schiphol saw volumes rise by 0.7 per cent in August to 137,638 tonnes and Heathrow Airport saw a dip of 0.2 per cent to 122,540 tonnes. Atatürk saw a 16.4 per cent rise to 66,229 tonnes.

ACI Europe director general, Olivier Jankovec says the sluggish Eurozone economic recovery and slowdown in China  is a concern but he hopes oversupply of oil will keep costs down. He says: “Within the context of still sluggish economic recovery in the Eurozone and risk of contagion from the slowdown in China and other emerging markets, oil prices are likely to remain the decisive factor for air traffic in the coming months.”

So far this year freight volumes across Europe have increased by 0.9 per cent. Among the top five freight airports, only Heathrow and Atatürk have seen increases over this time compared to 2014. Heathrow has seen an increase of 0.8 per cent to 985,625 tonnes while Atatürk is up by 7.6 per cent to 502,658 tonnes. Frankfurt is down by 2.6 per cent to 1.3 million tonnes, Charles de Gaulle has seen a fall of 4.7 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes and Schiphol has dropped by 1.8 per cent to one million tonnes.

Airports in Russia have been struggling due to economic problems in the country. In Moscow, Domodedovo International Airport saw volumes fall by 19 per cent to 11,520 tonnes in August while Sheremetyevo International Airport was down by 3.5 per cent to 12,262 tonnes in the same month. Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg saw freight volumes drop by 11.9 per cent 1,939 tonnes. Other Russian airports have also been struggling; Koltsovo International Airport in Yekaterinburg saw a fall of 16.6 per cent to 2,022 tonnes while Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport is down by 19.7 per cent to 1,878 tonnes.

German airports showed mixed figures in August, with Munich, Hamburg and Hanover seeing increases but Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Berlin Tegel and Schonefeld, Stuttgart, Cologne and Bremen declining. In August, Munich was up by 7.6 per cent to 26,127 tonnes, Hamburg by one per cent to 2,445 tonnes and Hanover increasing by 225.9 per cent to 479 tonnes.

Frankfurt was down by 4.7 per cent while Dusseldorf declined by 9.1 per cent to 7,880 tonnes. In Berlin, Tegel fell by 11.4 per cent to 2,982 tonnes while Schonefeld was down by 16.8 per cent to 506 tonnes. Stuttgart was down by 4.1 per cent to 1,579 tonnes and Cologne declined by 1.9 per cent to 54,975 tonnes. Bremen fell by 2.1 per cent to 47 tonnes.