Crowded airports are a good sign for investors

During the holidays, European airports are heavily congested. Small and medium-sized ones already have more passengers than before the pandemic. Warsaw Airport recorded the best July in its history. Only the largest airports, which are constantly suffering from a smaller number of business passengers, are doing worse. The good economic situation can be seen in the results of airlines.

Air traffic in an upward trend

July brought record results at Polish airports. Chopin Airport in Warsaw handled 1,9 million passengers in just one month. Since the beginning of the year, the number of passengers has already exceeded 10 million, which means that there is a good chance of breaking the pre-pandemic results. To outline the scale, in 2019, 18,86 million passengers were checked in at Okęcie.

This development is part of a European trend as small and regional European airports reached pre-pandemic levels in the first half of this year. Worse results, however, have the largest airports, which is the result of the decline in the popularity of business flights. Large airports, such as London (Heathrow), Istanbul, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, all checked in by 9% in the first half of the year. fewer passengers than in 2019.

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According to Airports Council International Europe, passenger traffic in the entire European network of airports is 7,7% higher than in the previous year. lower than in 2019, but it is gradually improving from -11% month by month. in January to -6 percent. in June this year

It is clear that tourists are the driving force behind the growth of European aviation. The most spectacular increases were recorded by airports in popular holiday destinations and based on low-cost carriers: Trapani (+163%) and Perugia (+137%) in Italy, Tirana (+105%) in Albania, Kutaisi (+82%) and in Georgia and Zaragoza (+57%) in Spain.

Airlines are increasing their revenues

For investors, good statics of airports are beginning to translate into the results of airlines. Lufthansa, Europe's largest airline group, posted revenue of €9,4 billion in the second quarter, an increase of around 17% over the previous year. (EUR 8,0 billion). From January to June, the airlines of the Lufthansa group carried more than 55 million passengers, an increase of 30 per cent. compared to the same period in 2022.

WizzAir also posted strong financial results with a net profit of EUR 61,1 million in the three months ending June, which is above the average of analysts' estimates of EUR 51,5 million. In July this year In 94,9, the line recorded a significant - as much as 89,7 percent. – the occupancy level of its aircraft (compared to XNUMX% a year earlier). The travel boom was also reflected in the financial results of EasyJet and Ryanair, which turned out to be better than expected.

About the author

Pawel Majtkowski - analyst eToro on the Polish market, which shares its weekly commentary on the latest stock market information. Paweł is a recognized expert on financial markets with extensive experience as an analyst in financial institutions. He is also one of the most cited experts in the field of economy and financial markets in Poland. He graduated from law studies at the University of Warsaw. He is also the author of many publications in the field of investing, personal finance and economy.