Traffic trend in Italian and European airports
In 2015, 71% of European airports recorded a positive trend, with an average traffic increase of 5.9%. Growth affected medium-large airports, while small airports faced great difficulties, after the previous years when they experienced a phase of great effervescence driven by the growth of low-cost carriers. The system continues to be characterised by high concentration, where almost 80% of traffic is handled by the top 20% of the airports.
Ranking European airports by volume of traffic in 2015
| Rank | Code | City | Passengers 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LHR | London, GB | 74,989,795 |
| 2 | CDG | Paris, FR | 65,766,986 |
| 3 | IST | Istanbul, TR | 61,346,229 |
| 4 | FRA | Frankfurt, DE | 61,032,022 |
| 5 | AMS | Amsterdam, NL | 58.284,86 |
| 6 | MAD | Madrid, ES | 46,779.554 |
| 7 | MUC | Münich, DE | 40,981,522 |
| 8 | FCO | Rome, IT | 40,422,156 |
| 9 | LGW | London, GB | 40,269,087 |
| 10 | BCN | Barcelona, ES | 39,674,095 |
Sources: ACI Europe, ICCSAI Fact Book 2015
The ranking of the busiest continental airports in 2015 sees three airports exceeding the threshold of 60 million passengers (Heathrow, Paris CDG and Frankfurt), followed by Amsterdam, which is poised to do so in 2016 and Madrid, which recorded the best absolute growth in volume for the year, increasing its lead (nearly 47 million passengers) from the set of airports that hover around 40 million (Monaco, Fiumicino, Gatwick and Barcelona).
The 2014 ranking remained unchanged in 2015 with regard to the top twelve positions. With nearly 75 million passengers, the top spot goes to London's Heathrow airport, which, after increasing traffic by 11% in 2014, recorded a further 2.16% increase in 2015.
The major French (CDG, +3.06%) and German airports (Frankfurt, +2.46%) experienced a similar growth rate. In the second half of the rankings, we note a strong turnaround of Dublin Airport, moving from 20th place in 2014 to 13th in 2015, due to a +15.37% growth in passenger traffic. In cargo transport, the percentage of airports experiencing growth is just over 53%. In this respect, traffic concentration is even more intense than passenger market, since the top 5 European airports handle over 50% of the entire continental cargo traffic. However, the four leading cargo hubs saw a slowdown in 2015, while there was significant growth at secondary hubs such as Leipzig (+77.5 thousand tonnes), Liege (+59.8 thousand tonnes), Malpensa (+40.4 tonnes) and Monaco (+25.9 thousand tonnes). In Italy, the top 3 airports for cargo traffic volumes (Malpensa, Fiumicino and Orio al Serio) represent 85% of national air cargo traffic. The financial performance of European airports in 2015 continued to improve, with an average return on investment (ROIC) of +7.2%, in line with the cost of capital. Improving airport finance continues to be driven mainly by a strong cost discipline rather than revenue growth. Operating costs per passenger fell by 6.7% since 2008, while revenues increased by just 1.6%. Scale is a decisive factor: smaller airports often fail to be profitable in a lasting way due to their inability to achieve economies of scale and generate revenue that will cover their total costs. While 51% of European airports run at a loss, this percentage reaches 77% for airports with less than 1 million passengers per year.