VINCI Airports reports traffic for end of September 2023

Over 77 million passengers travelled through VINCI Airports’ network in Q3 2023 (21% more than in Q3 2022, 2.8% less than in Q3 2019). The capacity that airlines added for the summer met strong demand despite the macroeconomic tension in Europe. Network-wide traffic hovered very near its pre-crisis levels in September (1.2% below its September 2019 total and 22% higher than in September 2022).

Another highlight of this quarter that VINCI Airports found was the integration of the seven airports in Cabo Verde, where traffic has been trending up for months. International traffic, in particular, is approximately 10 points higher than in 2019 including solid figures on flights connecting tourist destinations Sal, Boa Vista and São Vicente to cities in Western Europe including Lisbon and Paris.

Unless stated otherwise, all variations in following paragraphs refer to traffic levels in Q3 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022.

Reflecting the robust trends in traffic this summer, passenger numbers broke several records in September. VINCI Airports found that in Mexico, for example, local and United-States-based airlines continued to increase frequencies on existing lines and opened new ones, both international (traffic to and from the US rose 21%) and domestic (up 18%). Traffic may continue to increase in the coming months as Viva Aerobus and Aeroméxico have announced new services following the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to upgrade Mexico to Category 1¹ (for instance between Monterrey and Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York and Salt Lake City).

Traffic was also at an all-time high this September in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, as passenger numbers between the US and both those countries remain high. The situation is similar in Serbia: traffic at the airport in Belgrade continues to increase thanks to Wizz Air (up 54%) and Air Serbia (up 33%), as well as other carriers such as Turkish Airlines (up 33%) and Swiss International (up 26%), which underscores the airport’s appeal and potential.

In Portugal, services to the country’s islands and to cities across Europe remain very busy, reflecting traffic growth among low-cost carriers (Ryanair up 16%, easyJet up 24%, Transavia up 13%). VINCI Airports identified that transatlantic flights also grew significantly as TAP, LATAM, major US and Canadian airlines (including United Airlines and American Airlines) stepped up capacity to and from the US, Brazil and Canada.

VINCI Airports found that airports also handled more traffic this summer than last and continue to see their passenger numbers rise with healthy figures on their international connections. In France, low-cost carriers Volotea, easyJet, Ryanair and Transavia are adding the most capacity on domestic flights in Nantes and on international ones in Lyon (North Africa, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom). This summer saw several significant announcements regarding long-haul connections at Lyon: Qatar Airways will start direct flights to Doha in July and Air Canada will restart flights from Montreal.

Traffic for airports at London Gatwick exceeded that in summer 2022 despite the air traffic control disruptions. In addition to a busy schedule of European services, the airport is seeing significant growth in long-haul flights in general and transatlantic ones in particular (with a 92% increase in passengers flying to and from the US with Norse Atlantic and British Airways). In Japan, passenger numbers on some services within Asia remain steady (South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan) while traffic to and from China is increasing. Several airlines (including ANA, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Etihad and China Airlines) announced plans to increase capacity in coming months, which should help to push international traffic back to levels resembling those in 2019.

¹ The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is responsible for civil aviation in the United States. The fact that Mexico has been upgraded to Category 1 means that its airlines may initiate new services to the US (when it was in Category 2, airlines could only maintain existing services, not add new ones).