European airport trade body ACI EUROPE released its preliminary air traffic report for August 2025. Passenger traffic across the European airport network increased +4.9% in August 2025 compared with August 2024. International passenger traffic led the growth at +5.6%, standing in contrast to domestic traffic gains (+1.6%).
Airports in the EU posted results below the continental average with passenger volumes increasing by +4%. Significant divergences in performance between individual national markets continued in August. Three countries in the EU registered double‑digit growth year‑on‑year, namely Poland (+15.1%), Slovenia (+11.7%), and Romania (+10.3%). At the other end of the traffic performance spectrum were Latvia (‑6.7%), Estonia (‑4.5%), and Iceland (‑2.5%). The largest EU markets all posted traffic results below the continental average: Germany (+4.2%), Spain (+3.8%), Italy (+2.8%), the UK (+1.7%) and France (+1%).
Meanwhile, airports in the rest of Europe have grown faster on average than their Western counterparts with an increase of +8.8% year‑on‑year. However, performance gaps in that subgroup are even more significant, reflecting the impact of both geopolitics and contrasted markets dynamics. This resulted in airports in Moldova (+46.6%), Israel (+38.1%) and Bosnia & Herzegovina (+20.4%) growing well above the group’s average — while those in Russia (‑13.3%), Azerbaijan (+0.7%), Armenia (+7.2%), Uzbekistan (+7.7%) and Serbia (+7.8%) posted results below that line.
Major airports (over 40 million passengers) grew by +3.5% in August 2025 (vs. August 2024):
- Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (+21.5%) was the fastest growing major airport in Europe, followed by Istanbul Airport (+6.8%).
- Istanbul Airport and Heathrow both surpassed the historic milestone of serving more than 8 million passengers in a single month.
Mega airports (25‑40 million passengers) saw passenger volumes increasing by +4.2%, with the best performances coming from Milan Malpensa (+10.2%), Copenhagen (+8.6%) and Athens (+6.8%).
Strong, above the monthly average growth was posted by Large (10‑25 million passengers), Medium (1‑10 million passengers) and Small (less than 1 million passengers) airport segments, with respectively +6.1%, +5.8%, +6.2%, driven by Low Cost Carrier expansion and the strength of leisure and VFR demand, especially during the peak Summer month of August. This resulted in Medium airports growing at double‑digit rate over pre‑pandemic levels.
- In the Large category, the fastest growing airports all achieved double‑digit growth. Notably, Poland’s strong performance buoyed both Warsaw and Krakow airports to the top 5.
- Amongst Medium airports, Chisinau led the pack with an impressive +46.6% growth.
- Airports topping the Small airports rank recorded triple‑digit growth rates year‑on‑year: Antwerp (+769.4%), Bucharest (+118.6%) and Syros Island (+105.3%).
Small airports, despite achieving a positive momentum, remained the only ones not having recovered their pre‑pandemic passenger levels (‑20.1%).
Freight traffic across the European airport network decreased by ‑5.8% in August. When compared to pre‑pandemic volumes, freight stood at +7%. Amongst the top 10 European airports for freight traffic, the best results compared to last year came from Liège (+29%), Madrid (+11.4%), and Milan Malpensa (+6%). Aircraft movements in August increased by +3.3% compared to the same period last year.
The airports that reported the most dynamic growth in passenger traffic in August 2025 versus August 2024 are as follows:
- Majors: Istanbul SAW (+21.5%), Istanbul IST (+6.8%), Barcelona BCN (+4.7%), Munich MUC (+4.7%), Frankfurt FRA (+4.1%).
- Mega airports: Milan MXP (+10.2%), Copenhagen CPH (+8.6%), Athens ATH (+6.8%), Zurich ZRH (+5.5%), Dublin DUB (+4.1%).
- Large airports: Tel Aviv TLV (+38.1%), Krakow KRK (19.6%), Izmir ADB (+19.2%), Warsaw WAW (+15.6%), Tirana TIA (+13.5%).
- Medium airports: Chișinău RMO (+46.6%), Bournemouth BOH (+32.1%), Trieste TRS (+27.3%), Gaziantep GZT (+26.1%), Wroclaw WRO (+22.9%).
- Small airports: Antwerp ANR (+769.4%), Bucharest BBU (+118.6%), Syros Island JSY (+105.3%), Córdoba ODB (+71.7%), Kastamonu KFS (+70.5%).
