European airport trade body ACI EUROPE today released its preliminary air traffic report for September and the third quarter of 2025, showing continued passenger growth across the continent. 

Passenger traffic across the European airport network increased +3.6% in September 2025 compared with the same month last year.

Growth in the non-EU+ area (+8.3%) was more than double the continental average and over five percentage points higher than in the more mature EU+ market (+2.7%). International passenger traffic (+4.3%) continued to expand faster than domestic demand (+1%).  

For the whole third quarter, which covers the peak summer travel months, passenger traffic expanded by +3.9%. This trails the +4.5% and +4.6% registered in Q1 and Q2 respectively.

COUNTRY RANKINGS

The fastest-growing countries in the EU+ market were Slovakia (+14.7%), Poland (+13.2%), Slovenia (+13.1%), Romania (+11.1%), and Malta (+10.5%). In contrast, several markets recorded declines, including: Estonia (-5.8%), Latvia (-5.1%), Iceland (-4.9%), France (‑1%) and the UK (-0.3%).

Among the largest EU+ markets (beyond France and the UK), Germany achieved the highest growth with traffic up by +3.2%. Spain (+2.5%) and Italy (+1.7%) also posted gains, though both underperformed the continental average.

Meanwhile, airports in the rest of Europe were buoyed by exceptional growth including in Moldova (+45.5%), Israel (+32.2%), Bosnia & Herzegovina (+18%), Georgia (+15.6%), Uzbekistan (+15%), Montenegro (+10.9%), and Türkiye (+10.6%).

FREIGHT AND AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS

Freight traffic across the European airport network grew by +4.3% in September and now stands +17.6% above pre-pandemic levels.

Among the top 10 European airports for freight traffic, the strongest gains came from Liège (+14.3%), Madrid (+9.4%), and Cologne (+2.6%).

Aircraft movements increased by +2.5% compared with the same period last year.

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