Air Service One – Bitesize Analysis of the Day – 21st May 2026 – Traffic trends at major European airports

How is the war in Iran impacting air travel demand in Europe? Well, nine of Europe’s Top 10 busiest airports have reported passenger numbers for April. All nine reported growth in March (versus March 2025). In April only three of the nine are still reporting growth versus last year, and two of these have seen lower growth.

Worth noting that Easter Sunday was on 20 April in 2025 and on 5 April in 2026. Contributing to the declines at Frankfurt and Munich Airport International will have been industrial action at Lufthansa plus the immediate closure of Lufthansa CityLine GmbH on 18 April.

To keep up to date with the latest traffic trends and figures for over 400 European airports, check out the free-to-access database on the AIR SERVICE ONE website. This is updated weekly (on Fridays).