European air traffic: Ryanair and low-cost airlines took off again in 2022

Baptiste Morin, with AFP 06:05, January 08, 2023

1.4 billion euros in profits in the first half of 2022: Ryanair had never done so well.

The Irish company is capitalizing on a good year 2022 for the airline sector, two years after the appearance of Covid-19.

It estimates that it transported more passengers in 2022 than in 2019. "Low-cost companies did better than in 2019, while traditional companies are down, especially on long-haul flights", explains Xavier Tytelman, former specialist pilot. of the sector, at the microphone of Europe 1.

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In 2022, Europe returned to 83% of the level of traffic before the health crisis.

The 90% mark should be exceeded in 2023. The return to 100% is planned for 2025. In terms of income, with the increase in ticket prices and the rationalization of fleets, traditional companies could again make profits This year.

In 2022, Air France recorded a positive operating result for the first time since 2019. The French company's flights represented 80% of the 2019 level, those of Lufthansa 72%, slightly better than British Airways (71% ), according to Eurocontrol, an air traffic monitoring body.

Two billion passengers welcomed in 2022

Eurocontrol explains a return to normal in 2025 due to the weak economic recovery, inflation and the risk of continuation of the war led by Russia in Ukraine.

European airlines and airports welcomed around two billion passengers last year, compared to 2.42 billion in 2019, with "strong disparities" between countries and carriers.

These figures include all departures and all arrivals on European soil.

Thus, Germany only regained 75% of its pre-crisis traffic in 2022, France 86%, Spain 91% and Portugal 96%.

Traffic in Greece, on the other hand, reached 101% of the volume recorded three years earlier, and 137% in Albania.

On the airline side, it is the low cost carriers that have emerged strengthened from the crisis, regaining 85% of their traffic in 2019, compared to 75% for conventional carriers.

"In 2022, European aviation weathered the storm," the organization summed up.

Good results despite the war in Ukraine

After the Omicron variant at the start of the year and then the invasion of Ukraine, "traffic still recovered to 86% (of the 2019 level) in May and remained until the end of the year in a range narrow from 86% to 88%", he underlines.

Eurocontrol predicts that the number of annual flights in its area of ​​competence will reach 92% of the number of 2019 this year, but foresees a "difficult" year, the challenge being to limit delays, a scourge which affected many travelers especially at the beginning. of summer 2022.

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Partly as a result of a labor shortage at airports, the number of punctual arriving and departing flights reached 72% and 66% of the totals respectively, 6 or 7 percentage points less than in 2019.

Reduce CO2 emissions

While the aviation sector is under pressure to reduce its CO2 emissions, Eurocontrol has endeavored to calculate the measures to be implemented to apply the European climate package ("Fit for 55") intended to reduce by at least 55% EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990.

The overwhelming majority (83%) of the gains to be expected will be based on European (ETS) and international (Corsia) carbon compensation mechanisms.

Replacing aircraft with more fuel-efficient ones, increasing introduction of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) and modernizing air traffic control systems will only account for 30 million tonnes of CO2 out of the 176 to be saved. by 2030 by the air sector, according to the organization.

In 2022, long-haul flights (over 4,000 kilometers) accounted for 5.5% of flights, but 43.9% of emissions, while flights of less than 500 kilometers accounted for 29% of traffic but 5, 5% of CO2 emissions.