MICE CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

Air capacity: top destinations of intra-European international flights

Air capacity: top destinations of intra-European international flights

Air capacity: top destinations of intra-European international flights
December 21
11:52 2018

(Capacity Jul-Sep 2018 vs. Jul-Sep 2017; Share of Jul-Sep 2018)

Q3 2018: Long-haul arrivals in Europe did not balance intra-European arrivals despite
growing intra-regional air capacity
The latest results from the Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer*, produced by European
Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys, highlighted that arrivals from all long-haul travellers
enjoyed single-digit growth and went up by an overall 5.6%, not balancing enough
the decrease of the intra-European arrivals (-7.8%) which represented half of International
arrivals during Q3 2018.

European intra-regional air capacity is healthily growing
New element of the report, intra-regional air capacity, grew by 7.1% in Q3 and will
sustain solid growth in Q4, +9.7%, as per scheduled international flights within
Europe. Among best connected destinations, Moscow and Amsterdam will enjoy solid
increases of regional air capacity.

Long-haul arrivals increased by 5.6% in Q3 2018 compared to Q3 2017
Long-haul arrivals experienced an increase of 5.6%, with all long-haul sub-continents
getting single-digit growth. However, intra-European travel showed a very poor performance
with a decrease of 7.8%. This resulted in a small decrease (-1.6%) in total international
arrivals in Europe during Q3.

London and Paris are still dominating the top 2 destinations for long haul travellers
and Istanbul (3rd) is growing fast
London (18% share) and Paris (14% share) maintained their predominance as the top
two destinations for long-haul travellers. Istanbul was the top growing destination
in terms of share (8% share), increasing by 2 percentage points from last quarter.
Forward bookings for the fourth quarter are more optimistic than Q3 2018
Forward bookings for long haul arrivals in Q4 are ahead by 8.5%, fuelled by the
optimistic bookings’ situation for North America (13.6% ahead) and Middle East (13.2%
ahead), while smaller origin regions Africa (-0.9%) and Central & South America)
have a flat-negative outlook.

London (17% share) and Paris (14% share) are still the preferred destinations for
the last quarter of the year, followed by Rome (9% share), representing together
more than a third of arrivals in Europe. Istanbul (+51.5%) gains back its predominantly
position in terms of growth, followed by Munich (19.8%) and Dubrovnik (+18.6%).
Stronger growth in the leisure travellers’ segment than in the business travellers’
segment

The traveller profile for long-haul arrivals maintained a growing leisure-related
behaviour. This was indicated as segments typically associated with leisure travel
grew the most: 3 to 5 pax, couples and groups of 6 or more, with medium lengths
of stays (4 to 13 nights), and longer lead times of 90 to more than 120 days.
All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete European Cities Marketing-ForwardKeys
Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer with all the graphs and analysis.
*This analyse is based on Air Reservation Data propriety of ForwardKeys® as of 30th
September 2018. Perimeter: Includes air reservations made by passengers arriving
in Europe and staying at least one night in destination, therefore excluding: “Transits”,
“Day trips”, “One-way trips” and “Returns”.
Arrival period: 1 July – 30 September 2018 vs. 1 July – 30 September 2017.
Booking situation for next quarter: 1 October – 31 December 2018 vs. 1 October –
31 December 2017 according to bookings issued as of 30 September 2018 and as of
30 September 2017.

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