Kraków Airport among Europe's fastest-growing airports
Kraków Airport increased passenger traffic by 16% in May 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier. According to ACI EUROPE, the airport ranked among the five fastest-growing European airports handling between 10 million and 25 million passengers a year.
Fourth in its category
In ACI EUROPE's ranking, only Tirana (+26%), Tashkent (+20.9%) and Malta (+16.5%) recorded stronger year-on-year growth in the same airport category. Kraków was followed by Izmir, where passenger traffic rose by 13.3%.
Airports handling between 10 million and 25 million passengers posted average traffic growth of 4.6% in May. Kraków therefore expanded at more than three times the average rate for its peer group.
Poland also ranked among the stronger-performing markets within the EU+, with passenger traffic at Polish airports increasing by 8.9% compared with May 2025.
European traffic returned to growth
Passenger traffic across Europe's airports grew by 3.2% year on year in May. The increase followed a 0.7% decline in April, the first monthly drop since the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Airports in the EU+ market recorded 3.4% growth, while airports within the European Union alone increased passenger traffic by 4.2%. Airports outside the EU+ area reported growth of 2%.
According to ACI EUROPE, performance continued to vary significantly between national markets. Factors affecting results included the impact of the conflict in the Middle East, sustained leisure demand, the expansion of ultra-low-cost carriers, aviation taxes and airline capacity decisions.
Smaller airports outpaced larger hubs
Airports handling fewer than one million passengers a year recorded the strongest average growth, at 7.2%. Despite that performance, traffic in this segment remained 25.5% below May 2019 levels.
Airports serving between one million and 10 million passengers grew by 4.4%. Traffic increased by 2.2% at airports handling 25–40 million passengers annually and by 1.3% at airports serving more than 40 million passengers.
London Heathrow remained Europe's busiest airport in May, handling 7.12 million passengers despite a 1.2% decline in traffic. It finished just 3,012 passengers ahead of Istanbul Airport.
The report does not separate business demand
From a managed travel perspective, Kraków's result confirms that the airport continues to expand faster than comparable European airports. However, the ACI EUROPE report does not distinguish between business and leisure traffic.
The report also provides no information on fares, punctuality or seat availability. As a result, it does not allow a direct assessment of corporate travel conditions from Kraków.
