A look back on the summer vacation period 2024
Last weekend, summer vacations came to an end in the last regions around EuroAirport. Due to EuroAirport’s trinational catchment area, the Airport’s summer vacation period is prolonged for several weeks each year. In the 10 weeks since the end of June, around 96% of 2019 traffic from the same time period was recorded. Despite major delays, operations ran smoothly and orderly overall.
The expected increase in passenger volume during summer is a challenge for all partners involved on the airport platform. This summer, significant delays were caused by reduced capacities among European air traffic providers as well as unfavourable meteorological conditions. We do everything we can to ensure that travellers have the best possible passenger experience. Regarding summer operations, various preparatory and coordination meetings were therefore held with the companies on the airport platform. Waiting times at security and border control have been further reduced. Passengers also helped to shorten waiting times by preparing well for their journey.
In order to mitigate the impact of traffic peaks, slot coordination was introduced at the Airport this year, which means fixed time slots were set up for take-offs and landings. This enables smoother operations on peak and more average days alike and has proven to be particularly valuable during summer operations.
In April 2024, Basel-Mulhouse Airport officially became the first airport in France to be certified for the ECRA process (European Connected Regional Airports). This process allows data and the current status of flight movements to be exchanged in real time with the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, Eurocontrol. The introduction of this process significantly improved ground operations and air traffic flows. The close exchange of real-time data with Eurocontrol enables more precise flight planning and has contributed to improve the situation characterised by major delays.
