Forecasting

Looking ahead together to prepare
for future traffic.

About

We work with stakeholders to produce a shared forecast of future network traffic. This helps planners understand and manage risks, identify bottlenecks and anticipate the needs of airspace users.

Products

Trends

We regularly publish reports, plans and forecasts highlighting air transport statistics and trends. Our comprehensive assessments provide an analysis of traffic flows, market segments, oil prices, aviation sustainability and the impacts of the latest developments in Europe. We usually publish them on a bi-weekly basis and use 2019 as base year to point out the ongoing effects of COVID-19 on the air traffic situation.

Medium-term forecasts

Our medium-term forecast gives a comprehensive picture of anticipated air traffic development in Europe, generally for the next seven years but the horizon can vary (i.e. shorter) according to external elements (e.g. COVID-19 outbreak). It combines flight statistics with economic growth and models of other industry drivers, including costs, airport capacity, passengers, load factors and aircraft size. Using high- and low-growth scenarios, a likely range for growth is presented, to help planners manage risks. We publish it biannually, covering flights, en-route and terminal service units.

Long-term forecasts

Our 30-year forecast presents possible scenarios on how the air traffic industry might look in 30 years and, for the first time, includes estimates of net CO2 emissions. This allows a range of ‘what if?’ questions to be explored, for factors inside the industry (e.g. the growth of business aviation, or of point-to-point traffic) or outside (e.g. the price of oil, or environmental constraints). Long-term forecasts are published approximately every two years.

Tools

AGL

EUROCONTROL Airline groups lookup

SID

STATFOR interactive dashboard

STATFOR user group workspace

Latest highlights

News

EUROCONTROL predicts growth in aviation traffic over next 8 months

Press release

War in Ukraine and economic fallout delaying recovery in air traffic until after 2024 according to new EUROCONTROL 2022-2028 forecast

Aviation Outlook 2050
Article

“Aviation Outlook 2050: air traffic forecast shows aviation pathway to net zero CO₂ emissions”

Airplane passenger looking out of a window
News

EUROCONTROL 3-year Forecast 2022-2024

A "zero emission" Airbus in flight
Press release

EUROCONTROL publishes new Think Paper: Reducing aviation emissions by 55% by 2030

Press release

EUROCONTROL 2050 air traffic forecast showing aviation pathway to net-zero