Passenger traffic across Europe’s airports rose by nearly 5% in August 2025 compared with the same month last year, according to preliminary figures from airports trade body ACI Europe.
The report showed total passenger numbers were also 7% higher than in August 2019, before the pandemic, reflecting robust summer demand despite ongoing regional variations.
International travel drove the growth, increasing by 5.6% year on year, while domestic traffic rose by 1.6%.
Mixed performance across Europe
Airports in the EU and wider European Economic Area saw passenger volumes increase by 4%, below the continental average. Poland (+15.1%), Slovenia (+11.7%) and Romania (+10.3%) recorded the fastest growth among EU+ countries, while Latvia (-6.7%), Estonia (-4.5%) and Iceland (-2.5%) saw declines.
The largest EU+ markets — Germany (+4.2%), Spain (+3.8%), Italy (+2.8%), the UK (+1.7%) and France (+1%) — all posted below-average growth.
Airports outside the EU+ area performed more strongly overall, up 8.8% year on year. Moldova (+46.6%), Israel (+38.1%) and Bosnia & Herzegovina (+20.4%) led gains, though Russia (-13.3%) and several Central Asian markets reported weaker results.
Major hubs and regional airports
Among Europe’s largest airports handling over 40 million passengers annually, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen led growth with a 21.5% increase, followed by Istanbul Airport (+6.8%). Both Istanbul Airport and London Heathrow handled more than eight million passengers in a single month — a historic milestone for each.
Mid-sized hubs such as Milan Malpensa (+10.2%), Copenhagen (+8.6%) and Athens (+6.8%) also performed well, while large and regional airports benefitted from expanding low-cost carrier operations and strong leisure travel demand.
Notably, Poland’s strong market helped boost traffic at Warsaw and Krakow, while medium-sized airports such as Chișinău (+46.6%) and Bournemouth (+32.1%) posted standout growth.
Among smaller airports, Antwerp recorded the highest year-on-year increase at an extraordinary +769%, followed by Bucharest Băneasa (+118.6%) and Greece’s Syros Island (+105.3%). Despite this growth, the small-airport segment remains the only one yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic traffic levels, still down 20%.
ACI Europe said the results underlined continued momentum in air travel recovery, supported by leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives (VFR) demand during the peak summer months.
