European airport passenger traffic tops pre-Covid level
Passenger traffic reached 2.5 billion in 2024, up 7.4 percent from the previous year, according to provisional figures from Airports Council International (ACI) Europe.
That total was 1.8 percent above 2019 levels, said the trade group, which represents more than 600 airports in 55 countries from western Europe to Israel and Central Asia.
Growth was mostly driven by international passenger traffic, which rose 8.8 percent, while the number of domestic travellers was up 2.5 percent from the previous year and remained below pre-pandemic levels.
"Europe's airports welcomed an additional 200 million passengers last year, with many surpassing their previous historic records," said ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec.
"This was achieved despite much inflated air fares, continued supply pressures, mostly tepid economic growth and geopolitical tensions," he added.
He noted, however, that nearly half of Europe's airports remained below their pre-Covid traffic levels in 2024.
"We are now in a multi-speed European airport market where competitive pressures just keep rising," Jankovic said.
The association is forecasting a four-percent rise in passenger traffic this year, he said, but warned that it would have to keep it "under review, considering the overwhelming global political and economic uncertainties".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Spain
3 hours ago
- Local Spain
The reasons why Spain is a top choice for American digital nomads
According to a survey by the Expatsi website, a company which helps Americans move abroad, over the past year more than 113,000 respondents said they were considering leaving the US to work remotely from other locations around the world. Sixty-eight percent of them preferred a European destination and Portugal and Spain ranked first and second place when it came to choosing a favoured country to work from. It's worth keeping in mind that the profile of the digital nomad looking to leave the US isn't the traditional type of remote worker that stays in a country for a few months and then continues travelling. Many of them want to stay in Spain for several years. In fact, 44 percent are professionals with partners and 39 percent are between 25 and 44 years old. There is also a high number of workers between 55 and 65 years old. And 30 percent of them have confessed that they intend to stay indefinitely in their chosen countries, in which case they can't technically be considered digital nomads at all, despite the fact that they work remotely. So why is Spain such a popular destination for Americans to come to live and work? A more stable political climate A total of 56 percent of respondents said that the US has become too conservative and that the political climate is too polarised (53 percent) - these both being the reasons that have grown most over the past year for those wanting to leave the US. Although Spain has had its fair share of divisive politics, many believe that the country is currently in a better and more stable position since than the US under President Donald Trump. Less gun violence Forty-eight percent of respondents say that one of their reasons for wanting to live outside the US is to avoid the threat of gun violence. According to website Nation Master, the US ranks first in the world when it comes to gun crime, while Spain ranks 59th, and the homicide rate was nine times higher in the US than in Spain. This makes Spain a much safer destination and one of the reasons people want to move here. Universal healthcare Two thirds or 68 percent of respondents said that they wanted to move to a country with universal or public healthcare. Spain has a very good public healthcare system, which is ranked 8th in the world by the Health Care Index. It's important to remember though that only self-employed digital nomads in Spain who pay their own social security will be able to access it. Those who are employed by companies abroad will either have to get their company to register with social security and pay it for them or get private health insurance. Having said that, both social security and private health insurance are much cheaper than health insurance in the US. Greater acceptance of homosexual relationships The fourth most popular reason (48 percent) of respondents gave for wanting to leave the US is that they are allowed 'different freedoms'. A total of 60 percent said they were looking for a country where homosexual relations (60 percent) and same-sex marriage (56 percent) are permitted. In 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to legalise gay marriage, following the Netherlands and Belgium. Spain is a progressive country when it comes to LGBTQIA+ rights and generally people here are very open and accepting of homosexuality. Language Language is another reason why many Americans choose Spain. A total of 51 percent of those surveyed said that they would be willing to learn Spanish, while only 27 percent said French and 23 percent said Italian, even fewer said they would be willing to learn German. Spanish is the second most common non-English language spoken in the US and according to Forbes, the US also has the 2nd largest population of Spanish speakers in the world. Around 43 million people speak it the US already. Landscape When it comes to landscapes, Spain seems to tick all the boxes for Americans too. A total of 55 percent of those surveyed said they wanted beaches and coastlines in their new chosen countries, while 47 percent said mountains. Spain has both of these in abundance with a long coastline and the most Blue Flag beaches in the world, awarded to those beaches that meet demands of hygiene, water quality and accessibility. Spain is also home to countless mountain ranges, from the Pyrenees in the northeast to the Sierra Nevada in the south and the Picos de Europa in the northwest. Many of them boast excellent hiking trails, ski resorts and epic landscapes. Right to self-determination of gender A total of 58 percent of respondents said they wanted to move to a country where they had the freedom to determine their own gender. In early 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order proclaiming that the US will only recognise two sexes – male and female. While in early 2023, Spain passed its Ley de Trans or Trans Law, which states that 'No person may be pressured to hide, suppress, deny, modify, or forcibly make visible their sexual orientation, gender expression and/or identity, sexual characteristics, or membership in an LGBTQIA family'. The law recognises the right of trans people to self-determine their gender identity, and depathologises trans people so that it's not seen as an illness, but a personal decision.
Local Spain
4 days ago
- Local Spain
Why is Spain so vulnerable to cyberattacks?
Spain faces a new challenge: strengthening its online security. In recent months, there have been several major cyber attacks, including data breaches at Telefónica, the country's main telecoms company. Other major players have also been hacked: Santander Bank, the Orange phone network, Iberdrola energy company, numerous stock exchange listed companies, even Spain's Armed Forces. In fact, roughly a third of all cyberattacks in Spain are directed at public administrations. Although a cyberattack has been officially ruled out as the cause of Spain's nationwide blackout on April 28th, there are still voices claiming that there isn't enough data to completely discard that possibility. According to Francisco Valencia, CEO of security firm Secure&IT, Spain has historically fluctuated between third and fifth place globally in terms of its propensity to cyberattacks, but in 2025 it stands in second place. So why is it so vulnerable and why are criminals targeting Spain? According to data from CybersecurityNews, cyberattacks have risen by 35 percent this year in Spain, reaching more than 45,000 incidents per day. Between late February and early March, attacks increased by 750 percent compared to the same period last year, according HackManac, a company which monitors global cyber threats. During the week of March 5-11th 2025, Spain was the most targeted country in the world and Spain is also the third-most attacked country by pro-Russian hackers. According to Secure&IT's CEO, Spain has a commercial presence in all international markets and occupies a prominent position in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Its geographical location, at the westernmost point of the European continent, also reinforces its strategic value as a link between Europe and America. More importantly though he explains that "Before Brexit, the United Kingdom was the second most attacked country in the world,", due to its capacity to destabilise the EU. During this time, as well as during the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Spain temporarily dropped in the rankings, but now it has become a prime target once again. At the Global Cyber Security Congress in Barcelona, they also explained that Spanish companies had undergone a rapid digital transformation, which is a key goal of the EU's Next Generation Funds. As they've done so, however, many have "failed to invest sufficiently in cybersecurity systems, making them easy targets for cybercriminals". This is made worse by the rise in ransomware attacks, which have surged by 120 percent and caused financial losses, particularly for small businesses. According to CybersecurityNews, they can lose between €2,500 and €60,000 per attack, while damage to a large company can often be more than €5.5 million. The Spanish government has not made any comment regarding the ranking, but it has warned about the growing threat of cyberattacks. At the end of April, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did admit that "Spain is subject to more than a thousand cyberattacks on essential services and critical infrastructure each year'. The PM explained that many of these attacks don't appear in the media, but they directly affect targets such as hospitals and airports. "So far, our systems have managed to repel the most serious ones and contain the impact of the rest, but the threat, far from disappearing, is clearly growing stronger every day," he stated. Sánchez's new plan aims to boost new telecommunications and cybersecurity capabilities, both military and civilian. It will include new satellites, 5G infrastructure, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cloud capabilities. We want to "create a digital shield for Spain', Sánchez explained. According to Secure&IT's latest reports, cybercrime now represents a global cost of 1.5 percent of the world's GDP. In 2024 alone, cyberattacks increased by 64 percent compared to the previous year, according to data from Spanish cybersecurity company CCN-CERT. "Digital crime has it all: it's profitable, scalable, and anonymous. There are even platforms that assess the reputation of malware providers," Valencia said.
Local Spain
5 days ago
- Local Spain
Can non-residents in Spain get EU passports for their pets?
The BBC recently reported that a Worcestershire couple found a great way of getting around the problem of travelling to the EU regularly with their dog by getting EU passport to save money on travel costs. According to the British government website, Britons have to get an animal health certificate or ACH from their vet if they want to travel to an EU country with their pet. It is valid for four months for re-entry to Great Britain, but you will need to get a new ACH each time you travel to the EU, this can get quite complicated and costly if you travel here several times a year. The average cost of a standard ACH is around £99, quite a lot if you're travelling with your pet more than once a year. This could easily add up to just under £400 if you travel here four times per year. The Worcestershire couple told the BBC that the paperwork alone in the UK had risen from £170 to £280 for a return trip for their dog, not including fares. To get around this, many others are claiming that it's possible to get an EU pet passport too, and there are several blog posts online written by people who have done it. An EU pet passport costs around €85 and is valid for life as long as your pet's health information and vaccines remains in date. You will simply have to pay each time you get your pet revaccinated. So, if it's far less hassle and cheaper why wouldn't you get one? Firstly, it's a bit of a grey area if it's actually legal for a pet normally living and registered in the UK or other non-EU country to get an EU pet passport. According to the EU 'The European pet passport (for dogs, cats and ferrets) is only issued to pet owners who are resident in the EU'. Therefore, if you and your pet are resident elsewhere, you shouldn't really be getting one. According to those who have been issued the passports though, there are many vets within the EU, including in Spain, who will gladly issue the passport for you without much hassle. To get an EU pet passport all you need is your pet's microchip or tattoo code as well as any up to date animal health records such as rabies vaccination certificate etc, your contact details and of the vet who issued the passport. Technically you could get all of these quite easily and so some vets will be happy to provide you with one or may even suggest you get one if you take your pet into a vet while in Spain or another EU country. One potential problem could be rabies vaccines because in the UK they're valid for three years while in Spain and the EU they're only valid for one year. This means you would have to update them more regularly if you had an EU pet passport. As mentioned above though, it's not technically the correct thing to do as you and your pet are not residents of the EU, so some countries are clamping down on this practice. For example, French vets now require pet owners to have a French address and have to have been registered in the French animal I-CAD register for more than three months. This means it's not really possible to get one from France anymore if you're a non-resident. There have been rumours and reports that the Netherlands and Ireland have also been cracking down on those trying to get EU pet passports, so you may find it tricky. What about Spain? If you Google getting an EU pet passport in Spain as a non-resident you will find a handful places offering that service, so it seems that it is possible, but there is no official wording on this from the authorities. The Spanish government website states that in those cases where there is no European pet passport, the animals must be accompanied by: - An animal health certificate, which must be signed by an official veterinarian of the third country, and presented in Spanish - A declaration, both in accordance with EU models, and - A Certified copy of the identification and vaccination data of the animal/animals. They don't mention the availability of an EU pet passport for animals from outside the EU. This means that while you may be able to get it done, it's not actually correct and you will likely be breaking some rules. Members on Reddit talking about getting an EU pet passport in Spain say that you need to find a vet 'who is willing to bend the rules or be able to prove that you live in Spain'. It's likely that Spain may be cracking down on the practice too and ask you to provide a Spanish address, show your residency card or give your NIE number. This means it will be harder for those simply coming on holiday to Spain, but may be easier for non-residents that own a property here and have a NIE, despite the fact that it's still not technically the correct thing to do. The good news for Brits is that the recent UK-EU recent deal states that 'pets will be able to travel more easily, with the introduction of 'pet passports' for UK cats and dogs – eliminating the need for animal health certificates for every trip'. This seems to suggest that UK residents would once again be eligible for an EU Pet Passport, but it may be challenging to implement and we don't yet know when this might happen.
