European Airports Report Modest 3% Passenger Growth In July 2025

The latest air traffic data from ACI Europe shows that European airports recorded a 3.1% increase in passenger traffic in July 2025 compared with the same month last year. Covering more than 470 airports, the figures highlight a slower pace of growth than is typical for the peak summer month, making this one of the weakest July performances on record when compared with pre-pandemic averages.

International travel continued to drive growth, up 3.7%, while domestic passenger volumes remained broadly flat at just +0.7%. Overall passenger volumes stood 5% above July 2019 levels, showing that recovery has been sustained, albeit with significant variation across markets.

EU+ airports underperform continental average

Airports in the EU+ market¹ segment saw traffic rise by 2.8%. Within this group, results were uneven. Poland (+13.9%), Slovenia (+12.2%), Cyprus (+10.1%) and Monaco (+10.3%) stood out with double-digit increases, while Latvia (-6.1%), Estonia (-6%), Iceland (-2.9%) and Austria (-0.5%) posted declines.

The continent’s largest aviation markets recorded below-average growth: Spain (+2.7%), Germany (+2.3%), Italy and France (both +1.2%) and the UK (+1.1%).

Outside the EU+², airports collectively grew by 4.7%. Moldova (+45%), Georgia (+12.1%) and Kazakhstan (+11.2%) delivered strong results, but declines were seen in Russia (-15.1%), Israel (-5.6%), Azerbaijan (-5.2%) and Uzbekistan (-1.3%).

Major hubs show mixed performance

Among Europe’s busiest airports handling over 40 million passengers annually, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen led the group with 14.9% growth, followed by Munich (+5.9%) and Istanbul IST (+4.5%). London Heathrow remained Europe’s busiest airport but reported flat passenger numbers. Paris-CDG (+2.6%), Amsterdam Schiphol (+4%) and Madrid (+0.6%) showed moderate increases.

Mega airports (25–40 million passengers) posted 2.7% growth, with Milan Malpensa (+7.5%), Dublin (+6.9%) and Paris-Orly (+5.5%) recording the strongest gains.

Large airports (10–25 million passengers) achieved 2.9% growth, with Krakow (+18.9%) and Warsaw (+12.5%) leading in Poland, while Izmir (+11.2%) also posted strong results.

Medium and small airports outperform

Smaller airports were the growth leaders. Medium airports (1–10 million passengers) grew by 3.9%, while small airports (under 1 million passengers) expanded by 4%. This was largely due to low-cost carrier expansion and demand for leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives (VFR) travel.

Chisinau (+45%), Bournemouth (+31.9%) and Trieste (+22.3%) were among the fastest-growing medium airports. At the smallest end of the market, Kiruna in Sweden (+166.4%) and Karlstad (+147.7%) saw the most notable growth, along with Syros Island in Greece (+125.5%).

Flight operations mirrored passenger traffic trends, increasing by 2.9% year-on-year in July.

Also read → Passenger traffic up +4.5% in first half of 2025, says ACI Europe

Key takeaways for the industry

While July’s figures confirm a continuing recovery and resilience of European air travel, they also underline the slower pace of growth compared to historical norms. Performance remains uneven across regions, with Central and Eastern Europe generally stronger, while Northern and Western markets lag behind. For airports, airlines and tourism stakeholders, the latest data reinforces the importance of closely monitoring market shifts and adapting capacity and strategy to changing travel patterns.

1 EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK.
2 Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.  

The article European airports report modest 3% passenger growth in July 2025 first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.