European airport trade body ACI EUROPE today released its traffic report for April 2026, revealing that passenger traffic across the European airport network fell by -0.7% compared to the same month last year. 

This decline while marginal marks a significant milestone: the first year-on-year drop in passenger traffic since Europe’s air transport recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic began in April 2021. 

April’s performance reflects a combination of factors including the conflict in the Middle East impacting predominantly the non-EU+ market, the partial shift of the Easter holidays into March this year, and industrial action heavily affecting the German market.

Spanish and Dutch hubs most resilient 

Amongst the Majors, Barcelona (+4.1%), Madrid (+3.3%) and Amsterdam-Schiphol (+2.7%) were the only ones seeing passenger traffic increasing in April. 

Munich (-16.4%) and Frankfurt (-11%) posted the sharpest decrease largely due to no less than 7 days of industrial action during the month. 

Istanbul Airport (-6.8%) and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (-3.4%) – usually top performers – both contracted in April, with volumes also declining at London Gatwick (-8.8%) and London-Heathrow (-5.34%). Meanwhile, Rome-Fiumicino (-0.6%) and Paris-CDG (0.0%) were essentially flat. 

Freight and movements

Freight traffic at European airports decreased by -5.3% in April, while aircraft movements registered a small decrease at -0.8%.

The integral version (four pages) of the report is attached to this AVIONEWS.