Passenger numbers at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse higher than budgeted
Published: Monday, Jan 29th 2024, 13:40
Updated At: Monday, Jan 29th 2024, 13:40
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With 8.1 million passengers in 2023, EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse's most important business segment has recovered faster than expected from the coronavirus pandemic. This was announced by airport management on Monday. At the same time, it reported on ongoing noise problems.
The 8.1 million passengers correspond to a decline of eleven percent compared to the record year 2019. Compared to the previous year, however, it was an increase of 15 percent, as Airport Director Matthias Suhr said. For the current year, 8.4 million passengers are expected.
The top three destinations served are still the Kosovan capital Pristina, Istanbul and London. With a share of 55 percent of air traffic, Easyjet is still the lone leader of the 29 airlines flying to these destinations. It is followed by the low-cost airline Wizz Air with a share of 13 percent and Pegasus, British Airways and Turkish Airways with shares of 3.1 to 3.3 percent.
The freight segment saw a decline. Freight volumes fell by 6.6 percent. However, this trend could be reversed, at least temporarily, in view of the security issues surrounding shipping through the Red Sea.
Too much aircraft noise at night
EuroAirport has not yet reached its goal of reducing night-time aircraft noise. Despite the introduction of the ban on planned take-offs from 11.00 p.m., the noise situation had worsened by 11.15 p.m. According to the current report on noise pollution in 2022 by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), the immission limits were exceeded, particularly during the night.
The airport hopes to remedy this situation with a massive increase in noise charges for take-offs after 10.00 pm. For an older and therefore louder Airbus 300, these charges have risen from 389.97 to 2293.93 francs since the beginning of the year, said Raymond Cron, Vice President of the Board of Directors. The income from the noise charges would flow into a fund for noise protection measures.
Rail connection with a steep delay
Finally, the airport management provided information on expansion plans to improve the terminal infrastructure, which is considered insufficient and unsatisfactory. The focus is on a new building on the east side of the airport. This should be completed by the end of the decade at an estimated cost of 80 million Swiss francs and, above all, create space for security check-ins.
It will be some time before the long-planned rail connection is completed. The time horizon here is 2035.
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