Airports Council International - Europe (ACI-E) says April figures confirm growth is returning firmly to all categories of airport in Europe, but most dramatically to the medium-sized and small locations. The small airports - those handling fewer than 5 million passengers a year - saw an average passenger traffic growth in April of 14.3% compared with the same month in 2003, and 21.2% over figures for April 2002.
The small airports experiencing the most dramatic passenger traffic growth were Girona, Spain with 243%; Rome Ciampino, with 41.3%; and Riga, Latvia at 40.6%, reports ACI-E. They all benefited from use by growing low-cost carriers. The council's director of policy John Hume has called for an early clarification by the European Commission of what is acceptable in terms of publicly funded incentives to attract airlines to smaller airports.
Meanwhile, April's figures show sustained and strong recovery at all the other categories of airports , says Hume.
Source: Flight International