Misguided and unrealistic: ACI EUROPE rebuts T&E claims

ACI EUROPE has rebutted a misguided and unrealistic report, recently released by lobby group Transport & Environment (T&E), asserting that air passenger growth does not drive economic growth.

This contradicts extensive academic research demonstrating the strong relationship between aviation and economic performance. Air transport has long been recognised for its wide-ranging socioeconomic contributions, from enabling trade and tourism to supporting regional development. ACI EUROPE highlights these benefits in the report, “Benefits of Airports & Air Connectivity,” which reveals a range of clear socioeconomic impacts from increased air connectivity.

Despite its headline, T&E’s own analysis reconfirms this link. On page 13, the report acknowledges that a 10% increase in air connectivity correlates with a 0.5% rise in GDP per capita across Europe, using data up to 2023. This directly supports the established view that improved connectivity plays a measurable role in economic expansion.

T&E’s attempt to undermine this connection overlooks substantial evidence, including the SEO Amsterdam Economics study commissioned by ACI EUROPE and the independent academic research by Pot & Koster, both of which affirm the causal relationship between air connectivity and economic growth.

ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec criticised the report’s approach: “Negating the economic and social realities of our sector by making unrealistic assumptions and slicing data into meaningless clusters is akin to disinformation.”

“This is the last thing Europe’s policy makers, businesses and citizens need to address the dual challenge of competitiveness and sustainability that now stands at the very top of EU and national priorities. We all need to work constructively, honestly, and cooperatively to address this unprecedented challenge.”

Access ACI EUROPE’s Benefits of Airports & Air Connectivity report here.