Data from the world’s airport industry employers, the Airports Council International (ACI), suggest that 193 airports in Europe, which directly and indirectly account for 277,000 jobs and 12.4 billion euros of activity, are at risk of bankruptcy. In principle, most are regional airports with traffic of less than 5 million passengers per year. That said, the problems are also visible at Europe’s 20 largest airports. In this case, their debt has increased by 16 billion euros, the equivalent of 60% of their income in a normal year, to continue to maintain their activity.
More shocking than the aforementioned data are the statements of the general director of ACI: “Eight months after the crisis, all airports in Europe are consuming cash to stay open…Revenues are far from covering operating costs, much less capital costs.”
In the short term, the outlook is not good for this sector since, in mid-October, the drop in passengers at Europe’s airports was around 80% yearly and will surely worsen in the coming weeks.
