Airport activity during summer 2024: Europe beats the global average

During the summer of 2024, European airports operated with much higher activity compared to the same period of the previous year. A growth trend that leads the Old Continent to accelerate compared to global data.

This is what emerges from the analysis of data regarding the daily average hours of activity of airport service vehicles (GSE, Ground Support Equipment) conducted by the Targa Telematics Observatory, one of the leading global players in the field of IoT and the development of solutions and digital platforms for connected mobility, with a strong focus on the digitization of airport ground support.

The 3.5 million total connected assets managed by the IT company also includes the share of service vehicles (such as GPU – Ground Power Units -, passenger buses, luggage trolleys, loading/unloading vehicles and towing vehicles, etc.) that operate within airport areas.

Specifically, if we consider the two months that most characterize the summer break – July and August 2024 – Europe has seen a marked jump in its airport activity, in the order of +5% compared to July 2023 and +4% compared to August 2023, respectively.

Globally, on the other hand, there was +2.8% in July 2024 compared to 2023, with an August in which the situation remained substantially unchanged compared to the previous year.

Last but not least, the United Kingdom saw a jump in its airport activity of +11% in both July and August 2024 compared to the summer of 2023.