In
2012 there was a total of 26,100 average daily flights in Europe.
This is a decline of 2.67% compared to 2011. The decrease was spread
unevenly across countries and market segments, with low cost and
charter and eastern European countries seeing growth in numbers of
flights while western Europe and the traditional market segments
decreased.
In
2012, low-cost and chartered airlines saw increases of 1.4% and 2.6%
respectively compared to 2011. In contrast, traditional scheduled air
traffic – which accounts for half of total flights – business
aviation and all-cargo suffered a decline of some 4-5% year-on-year.
Breakdown of
traffic per market segment
|
Market Segment
|
Average Daily
Flights
|
Market Share
|
Growth on 2012
|
Traditional
scheduled
|
14,355
|
55%
|
-4.1%
|
Low cost
|
6,537
|
25%
|
1.4%
|
Business
aviation
|
1,870
|
7%
|
-4.0%
|
Charter
|
1,414
|
5%
|
2.6%
|
Cargo
|
918
|
4%
|
-4.6%
|
Other*
|
995
|
4%
|
-9.6%
|
TOTAL
|
26,089
|
100%
|
-2.67%
|
* Other includes
also military flights
|
Some
countries, in particular in eastern Europe, saw an increase in
traffic during the year. Turkey, Norway, Poland, Ukraine and Estonia
together had an extra 240 flights per day (excluding overflights).
This increase was offset by reductions in the busiest countries.
Spain was the main contributor to the decline with 290 fewer flights
per day. Italy and Germany saw roughly half that decrease with around
140 fewer flights daily.
The
results of this pattern can be seen in the figures for the busiest
airports per average daily departures. Among the busiest hubs,
all but two had decreases. Madrid Barajas shrank by 13.3%. Other
major airports, like Paris CDG, Frankfurt Main, Heathrow, Munich and
Rome Fiumicino, were in negative figures, ranging from -1.3% to
almost -5%. The only two airports delivering growth out of the 10
busiest are Istanbul-Ataturk – which is becoming an increasingly
important hub in the east with steady and strong 12.2% growth – and
Amsterdam Schiphol, which remains stable with gains of 0.3%.
10 busiest
departure airports per average daily departures
|
Rank
|
Departure
Airport
|
Average Daily
Departures
|
Growth on 2012
|
1
|
PARIS CH DE
GAULLE
|
680
|
-3.4%
|
2
|
FRANKFURT MAIN
|
659
|
-1.3%
|
3
|
LONDON/HEATHROW
|
649
|
-1.5%
|
4
|
SCHIPHOL
AMSTERDAM
|
593
|
0.3%
|
5
|
MUENCHEN 2
|
540
|
-3.2%
|
6
|
MADRID BARAJAS
|
510
|
-13.3%
|
7
|
ISTANBUL-ATATURK
|
482
|
12.2%
|
8
|
ROME FIUMICINO
|
429
|
-4.7%
|
9
|
BARCELONA
|
396
|
-4.6%
|
10
|
ZURICH
|
357
|
-2.8%
|
Turkey
and Norway have between them 6 out of the 10 busiest city pairs. The
biggest percentage increase in flights between city pairs was between
Istanbul Ataturk and Izimr Adnam Menderes. In contrast, the
Barcelona-Madrid Barajas route has fallen by almost a fifth.
10 busiest
airport pairs per number of daily flights
|
Rank
|
Departure
Airport
|
Arrival Airport
|
Average Daily
Movements*
|
Growth on 2012
|
1
|
BARCELONA
|
MADRID BARAJAS
|
62
|
-19.1%
|
2
|
ISTANBUL-ATATURK
|
IZMIR-ADNAN-MENDERES
|
59
|
12.5%
|
3
|
TOULOUSE BLAGNAC
|
PARIS ORLY
|
51
|
0.6%
|
4
|
TRONDHEIM/VAERNES
|
OSLO/GARDERMOEN
|
49
|
4.3%
|
5
|
MILANO LINATE
|
ROME FIUMICINO
|
48
|
1.9%
|
6
|
OSLO/GARDERMOEN
|
BERGEN/FLESLAND
|
48
|
-2.2%
|
7
|
PARIS ORLY
|
NICE
|
46
|
1.6%
|
8
|
ISTANBUL-ATATURK
|
ANTALYA
|
44
|
6.4%
|
9
|
OSLO/GARDERMOEN
|
STAVANGER/SOLA
|
44
|
2.0%
|
10
|
ISTANBUL-ATATURK
|
ANKARA-ESENBOGA
|
42
|
4.3%
|
* both
directions
|
Regarding
delays communicated by the airlines within the European Network in
2012; 36% of flights were delayed by more than five minutes on
departure.
The
average delay per delayed flight was 27 minutes. This translates to
9.5 minutes per flight:
Average delay
per flight all-causes (minutes)
|
Reactionary
|
Airline
|
Air Traffic Flow
Management
|
Other
|
4.3
|
2.8
|
1.2
|
1.2
|
The
UK, particularly the London airports, and the Iberian peninsula had
the airports with highest delays per flight in 2012.
10 airports with
highest departure delay per flight
|
Rank
|
Departure
airport
|
Average delay
per departure (minutes)
|
% of delayed
departures
|
1
|
LISBOA
|
16.4
|
52.4%
|
2
|
ISTANBUL-ATATURK
|
13.8
|
48.0%
|
3
|
MANCHESTER
|
13.7
|
42.2%
|
4
|
LONDON/HEATHROW
|
12.5
|
46.5%
|
5
|
LONDON/GATWICK
|
12.0
|
42.7%
|
6
|
LONDON/LUTON
|
11.8
|
39.9%
|
7
|
MALAGA
|
11.4
|
39.2%
|
8
|
PARIS CH DE
GAULLE
|
11.4
|
47.6%
|
9
|
MADRID BARAJAS
|
11.2
|
44.6%
|
10
|
PALMA DE
MALLORCA
|
10.8
|
39.3%
|
With
fuel prices remaining high and the economic recovery delayed yet
again, EUROCONTROL’s current forecast is for a slight decline in
traffic in 2013. We expect this to be revised further downwards in
the new forecast due out at the end of February.
For
more forecasts, please refer to the latest information available at
the date of publication: EUROCONTROL
Two-Year Forecast (December 2012) - (PDF).
