VINCI Airports reports slight third-quarter traffic decline across its network

VINCI Airports handled 93.5 million passengers across its airport network in the third quarter of 2026, a 0.6% decline from the same quarter a year earlier, the operator said in a 22 October traffic update. It described overall traffic as broadly stable through the end of September despite disruptions, with performance differing across regions and airports.

Several European locations recorded growth. Budapest passenger traffic rose 12% during the summer quarter, which VINCI attributed to additional services by Wizz Air and Ryanair to southern Europe. Porto traffic increased 7.1% and Faro traffic 3.7%. The company also said Belgrade maintained strong performance on western European routes and that Edinburgh benefited from additional airline capacity, particularly on Mediterranean connections. These figures are year-on-year changes for the third quarter unless otherwise stated.

The release said airport traffic in parts of Asia was affected by geopolitical disruption and reported an 8.8% decline at Japanese airports in its network. Cambodia also recorded a decline, which VINCI linked to lower demand from China and Thailand. Santiago in Chile saw traffic contract amid fuel-price developments and seasonal flight adjustments. At London Gatwick, the decline eased to 2.9%, with the company pointing to summer demand and five aircraft newly based there by Jet2 as offsets to low-cost carrier restructuring.

VINCI said high kerosene prices continued to weigh on traffic at some airports, while European and Latin American growth offset much of the weakness elsewhere. It presented geographic diversification as a buffer against cyclical shocks. The update did not quantify the effects attributable separately to fuel prices, airline capacity or geopolitical conditions, so those explanations remain the company’s account of factors behind the observed traffic pattern.

The company operates more than 70 airports in 14 countries. Its third-quarter update is a network operating statistic rather than a measure of national air travel or airline passenger traffic as a whole. It does not provide airport-level passenger totals for every location, nor a forecast for the next quarter.

The company describes VINCI Airports as an operator of more than 70 airports in 14 countries. That portfolio context matters when reading the headline total: the 93.5 million passengers cover the group’s global airport network in the third quarter, while the airport-level movements cited in the release vary sharply by market. The company attributed some strength to added airline capacity in Budapest and continued growth in Portugal, while it cited geopolitical disruption in Asia and high kerosene prices among headwinds. These are the operator’s explanations, not a causal analysis independently established by the traffic totals.