European airport traffic continued to grow in early 2026, but the pace has eased sharply after the post-COVID rebound. ACI Europe reported passenger traffic up 4.6% in the EU network in January and up 4.3% across Europe in the first quarter, still 3.2% above first-quarter 2019 levels.
The latest data show a widening gap between markets. Growth in the first quarter was driven almost entirely by international traffic, while domestic volumes were flat. January brought particularly strong gains in smaller and recovering markets, including Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, Ireland and the Czech Republic. By contrast, airports exposed to Middle East-related disruptions, capacity adjustments and holiday timing are posting weaker results.
Vienna is the clearest recent example. Flughafen Wien Group traffic fell 2.1% in April to 3.68 million passengers, with Vienna-Schwechat down 2.4% to 3.08 million. Management cited the Middle East conflict, the Easter timing shift and lower capacity on some routes. Despite these local declines, Europe’s airport market has already moved beyond 2019 volumes overall.