The number of flyers across the European airport network dropped by -0.7% in April 2026 compared to the same month last year, according to European airport trade body ACI EUROPE.

The group says that while marginal, the decline “marks a significant milestone”.

Why are fewer people flying in Europe?

ACI EUROPE says April’s performance reflects a combination of factors, including the conflict in the Middle East, the partial shift of the Easter holidays into March this year, and industrial action heavily affecting the German market.

Some airports are continuing to expand. The best EU+ performances came from airports in Slovakia (+125.2%), Slovenia (+14.6%), Estonia (+12.1%), Malta (+13.5%) and Poland (+8.3%).

Among the largest EU+ markets, Spain (+3.7%) and Italy (+2.2%) posted the best results.

However, airports in Germany (-8.5%), the UK (-2.1%), and France (-0.9%) saw passenger volumes receding. Cyprus (-16.1%) and Iceland (-11.7%) registered the steepest decreases, followed by those in Austria (-7.4%) and Switzerland (-6.1%).

Europe’s biggest and smallest airports were most impacted

Overall, ‘major’ airports (-3.5%), along with ‘mega’ airports (-1%) and ‘large’ airports (+0.1%), were the segments most impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, as they concentrate most of Europe’s connectivity to the region.

Amongst the majors, Barcelona (+4.1%), Madrid (+3.3%) and Amsterdam-Schiphol (+2.7%) were the only ones seeing passenger traffic increase in April.

Munich (-16.4%) and Frankfurt (-11%) posted the sharpest decrease, largely due to no less than seven days of industrial action during the month.