European airports welcomed 728m passengers in 2020, it is the lowest number since 1995

European airports were able to welcome 728 million passengers by 2020. This is a 70.4% drop compared to a year earlier and ‘at the same level as in 1995’, reports ACI Europe on Friday.

Aviation is struggling because of the coronacrisis. All the border closures and lockdowns caused a lot less travel last year, and that got a lot of airlines into trouble.

The latest figures show that European airports have been hit hard. In total, there were 70.4 percent fewer visitors. “With only 728 million passengers in 2020 compared to 2.4 billion in the previous year, European airports are back at 1995 levels,” says Oliver Jankovec, president of ACI Europe.

“No sector can take such a blow on its own. And although some member states have already taken steps to support their airports, only EUR 2.2 billion has gone to them. That is less than 8% of the total turnover lost.”

Within the European Union, airports in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia and Slovakia are the biggest losers. Traffic in these countries declined by 90%. Schiphol had 70.9 percent fewer visitors across 2020.