European airports see 4.9% passenger growth in August as summer travel demand stays strong

European airport trade body ACI EUROPE today released its preliminary air traffic report for August 2025.

Passenger traffic across the European airport network increased by 4.9% in August 2025 compared with August 2024, ahead of the year-to-date average of 4.3%, confirming that summer demand remains strong.

International passenger traffic led growth at 5.6%, contrasting with domestic traffic gains of 1.6%. Overall, passenger volumes in August were 7% above pre-pandemic levels (August 2019).

EU+ and rest of Europe

Airports in the EU+ area recorded results below the continental average, with passenger volumes rising by 4%. Significant differences between individual national markets continued in August.

Three EU+ countries saw double-digit growth year on year: Poland (15.1%), Slovenia (11.7%) and Romania (10.3%). At the lower end of the performance range were Latvia (–6.7%), Estonia (–4.5%) and Iceland (–2.5%).

The largest EU+ markets all posted results below the continental average: Germany (4.2%), Spain (3.8%), Italy (2.8%), the UK (1.7%) and France (1%).

Meanwhile, airports in the rest of Europe grew faster than their Western counterparts, increasing by 8.8% year on year. However, performance gaps within this group remained significant, reflecting the impact of geopolitics and differing market dynamics.

Airports in Moldova (46.6%), Israel (38.1%) and Bosnia & Herzegovina (20.4%) grew well above the group’s average, while those in Russia (–13.3%), Azerbaijan (0.7%), Armenia (7.2%), Uzbekistan (7.7%) and Serbia (7.8%) posted results below that line.

Airport market segments

Major airports (over 40 million passengers) grew by 3.5% in August 2025 compared with August 2024.

• Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (21.5%) was the fastest-growing major airport in Europe, followed by Istanbul Airport (6.8%).

• Both Istanbul Airport and Heathrow surpassed the milestone of serving more than 8 million passengers in a single month.

Mega airports (25–40 million passengers) saw passenger volumes rise by 4.2%, with the best performances from Milan Malpensa (10.2%), Copenhagen (8.6%) and Athens (6.8%).

Strong, above-average growth was recorded by Large (10–25 million passengers), Medium (1–10 million passengers) and Small (under 1 million passengers) airports, with increases of 6.1%, 5.8% and 6.2% respectively. This was driven by low-cost carrier expansion and strong leisure and VFR demand during the peak summer month. Medium airports grew at double-digit rates above pre-pandemic levels.

• In the Large category, the fastest-growing airports all achieved double-digit growth. Poland’s strong performance pushed both Warsaw and Krakow airports into the top five.

• Among Medium airports, Chișinău led with 46.6% growth.

• The top Small airports recorded triple-digit year-on-year growth: Antwerp (769.4%), Bucharest (118.6%) and Syros Island (105.3%).

Despite their positive momentum, Small airports remained the only segment not to have recovered pre-pandemic passenger levels (–20.1%).

Freight and aircraft movements

Freight traffic across the European airport network fell by 5.8% in August but remained 7% above pre-pandemic levels.

Among the top 10 European airports for freight traffic, the best year-on-year results came from Liège (29%), Madrid (11.4%) and Milan Malpensa (6%).

Aircraft movements in August rose by 3.3% compared with the same month last year.

Data by airport groups

The airports reporting the strongest passenger growth in August 2025 versus August 2024 were:

Majors: Istanbul SAW (21.5%), Istanbul IST (6.8%), Barcelona BCN (4.7%), Munich MUC (4.7%), Frankfurt FRA (4.1%).

Mega: Milan MXP (10.2%), Copenhagen CPH (8.6%), Athens ATH (6.8%), Zurich ZRH (5.5%), Dublin DUB (4.1%).

Large: Tel Aviv TLV (38.1%), Krakow KRK (19.6%), Izmir ADB (19.2%), Warsaw WAW (15.6%), Tirana TIA (13.5%).

Medium: Chișinău RMO (46.6%), Bournemouth BOH (32.1%), Trieste TRS (27.3%), Gaziantep GZT (26.1%), Wroclaw WRO (22.9%).

Small: Antwerp ANR (769.4%), Bucharest BBU (118.6%), Syros Island JSY (105.3%), Córdoba ODB (71.7%), Kastamonu KFS (70.5%).

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