Europe's airline traffic tumbles

Europe's major airlines said the economic slowdown cut passenger numbers in September and they do not expect a turnaround in the near future.

Flights within European countries fell sharply, down 12 percent, while lucrative trans-Atlantic flights between Europe and North America did not grow at all, the Association of European Airlines said Wednesday. Only flights from Europe to the Middle East and to the South Atlantic grew — neither of them major markets.

The group said this was the first time in 25 years that the economy caused traffic to fall and came after three months of slow growth over the summer.

With worse likely still to come as European economies slide close to recession, AEA's secretary-general Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said passenger numbers "cannot be expected to recover in the immediate future."

He blamed a "toxic combination" of a slowing economy, declining business and consumer confidence and high inflation driven by higher oil prices — even though they have come down from recent record levels.

The AEA said load factors — the amount of passengers filling up airplane seats — continued to slide and this was "a massive burden on the industry's profitability."

Italy's flagship carrier Alitalia, which went bankrupt in August, saw the worst drop in passenger numbers, down 25 percent from a year ago.

Spanish airline Spanair was down 21 percent as the bursting of a housing bubble saw the country's economy slow sharply.

Another economically troubled nation's airline, Icelandair, flew 12.8 percent fewer people as the banking crisis saw Iceland itself teeter on the brink of bankruptcy.

But Europe's biggest airlines fared better. Germany's Lufthansa — which flew nearly 5 million people last month — saw numbers grow 4.2 percent. Air France saw a 0.2 percent drop in traffic while British Airways saw a larger 5.1 percent decline.

The AEA represents 35 European airlines, mostly national flag carriers, that carry about 380 million people a year. It does not count passenger numbers on budget airlines such as Ryanair or chartered vacation flights.