The travel habits and expectations of air passengers in Germany and Austria have fundamentally changed over the past decade. A comprehensive study by the airport association Adv for the period from 2014 to 2024 provides detailed insights into profound structural shifts, altered travel reasons, and a modified passenger structure in German-speaking countries.
While international air travel is experiencing significant growth, domestic air traffic in Germany is showing considerable declines. At the same time, overall passenger satisfaction with airport infrastructure remains consistently high, although access to this form of mobility is increasingly determined by economic factors.
The survey is based on a methodologically standardized questionnaire conducted every three years in the terminal areas of participating commercial airports. Over the past ten years, more than 160.000 passengers from around the world have been interviewed about their experiences, preferences, and specific travel characteristics. The evaluating institute, the Ifak Institute from Taunusstein, weights the data sets based on actual commercial scheduled and charter traffic to ensure a representative picture of market activity. The most recent survey period in 2024 recorded a base of 150.595 departing passengers, which, extrapolated, corresponds to a total volume of 104,5 million boarding and connecting passengers. Compared to the crisis years of the pandemic, when passenger numbers fell to 75,3 million departing passengers in 2022, there is a clear quantitative recovery, which, however, is overlaid by qualitative shifts.
Consistently high passenger satisfaction compared to other infrastructures
Despite the operational challenges of recent years, the majority of passengers rate their airport experience positively. Across all segments, 79 percent of respondents gave their experience a grade of one or two (on a scale where 1 is the best and 6 is the best). A further 19 percent rated their experience with three or four (on a scale where 1 is the best and 6 is the best), while only two percent were dissatisfied and gave it a grade of five or six (on a scale where 1 is the best and 6 is the worst). The performance of smaller regional airports with fewer than one million passengers per year is particularly noteworthy.
These airports achieved the highest satisfaction ratings at 92 percent, followed by major hubs at 82 percent. The analysis by airline reveals a consistent picture: Airport satisfaction remains high regardless of the airline chosen. 82 percent of Lufthansa Group passengers expressed satisfaction, while low-cost carriers (75 percent) and leisure airlines (79 percent) lagged only slightly behind. Demographic characteristics such as age and gender, as well as the specific purpose of travel, also show hardly any statistically significant differences in the assessment of airport quality.
Diverging development of national and international routes
The most significant change over the last decade concerns the ratio of domestic to international air connections. Domestic air traffic in Germany has experienced a continuous and drastic decline since 2017. The number of departing passengers on domestic flights fell from 15,5 million in 2014 to just 5,5 million in 2024, representing a decrease of 65 percent. This development is hitting smaller airports particularly hard, as they are now almost completely cut off from the national air traffic network.
In contrast, demand for international destinations grew by 23 percent during the same period. While 62,3 million international passengers reached their destinations from German airports in 2014, this number rose to 76,3 million by 2024. Geographically, destinations in Europe benefited most, with an increase of 21 percent, followed by Asia with a rise of 31 percent. The African market also saw significant growth, while traffic to Central America declined by 13 percent.
Structural crisis in business travel and growth in tourism
A key driver for the decline in domestic air traffic in Germany is the changing dynamics of business travel. Business-motivated air travel is suffering from a sustained slump. A peak of 28,1 million business travelers was recorded in 2017, but this figure is projected to fall to 16,1 million by 2024.
This represents a 40 percent decline compared to pre-crisis levels. The reasons cited include changes in corporate travel policies, increased digital communication, and a reduced flight schedule. Conversely, private travel is becoming the dominant segment of air traffic. Its number rose from 50,9 million in 2014 to 65,7 million in 2024, an increase of 29 percent. Within private travel, in addition to traditional vacations, which account for 51 percent, other private occasions such as visiting friends and relatives, event trips, and short breaks are gaining in importance, now representing 49 percent.
Shift in destinations and deficits in destination volume
The crisis in business travel is also reflected in destination statistics. Traditional business destinations such as continental Germany lost 69 percent of their business passenger volume. Great Britain also lost 36 percent and Austria 42 percent of business travelers. Only Spain recorded growth in this segment, at 20 percent. For leisure travel, the classic destinations of the Mediterranean continue to dominate.
Spain remains the leader with 12 million passengers in 2024, followed by Turkey, which saw a 40 percent increase to 8 million passengers. Greece recorded the strongest percentage growth over the past ten years, at 86 percent. A problematic trend is evident in the so-called destination traffic, meaning passengers whose journey ends in Germany. While the origin traffic of passengers departing from Germany increased by 19 percent, the destination traffic of international passengers has decreased by 28 percent since 2017. Analyses cite a lack of direct connections and a comparatively high price level as reasons for this, making Germany less attractive as an entry destination.
Changes in behavior patterns regarding travel duration and group sizes
The lack of flight frequencies and direct connections directly impacts booking behavior and the length of stay at the destination. Surprisingly, the average duration of business trips has increased. While short trips of one to two days accounted for 46 percent of all business flights in 2014, this figure fell to 28 percent by 2024. At the same time, the share of business trips lasting three to four days rose from 26 to 33 percent.
Analysts attribute this to the fact that the reduced flight schedule often makes day trips impossible, forcing travelers to book additional overnight stays. For leisure travel, the duration of trips remains stable, primarily between one and three weeks, although short weekend trips are declining due to increased costs. Another trend concerns travel group size: solo travel is losing ground in almost all segments. Business and leisure flights are increasingly being taken in groups or by pairs. Furthermore, passengers on international routes are statistically traveling in larger groups than on domestic routes.
Socioeconomic factors and demographic shifts
The user base at the terminals is becoming younger and more female. The proportion of passengers aged 20 to 39 rose from 42 percent in 2014 to 48 percent in 2024. Furthermore, air travel has become more female: the proportion of female passengers increased from 47 to 51 percent over the ten-year period. This contrasts with a clear social selection based on income, which is particularly evident in the accompanying online surveys from 2023 and 2025.
The data clearly show that flying is increasingly becoming a question of available budget. In the lowest income bracket, with a net household income of less than €1.500 per month, around 82 percent of respondents stated in 2025 that they had not taken a single flight; two years earlier, this figure was 71 percent. Even in the middle income bracket, between €2.500 and €4.000, the proportion of non-flyers rose from 66 to 73 percent. Only in households with a net income of over €4.000 did travel behavior remain stable, with around 50 percent of non-flyers. Air travel is thus becoming less of a given for lower-income groups.
Infrastructure use and changing travel behavior
Regarding the choice of transport mode for travel to the airport, the so-called modal split, there is a clear dependence on rail connections. At airports with direct connections to the long-distance and regional rail network, train usage increased from 11 percent in 2014 to 20 percent in 2024.
Private car traffic at the airport saw only a slight increase to 43 percent, while taxi services and buses experienced significant declines. At airports without direct rail connections, however, the distribution remains stagnant: here, the car remains the dominant mode of transport at 50 percent, followed by commuter trains or trams at 25 percent. Within the terminals, commercial offerings continue to enjoy consistent popularity. Almost half of all passengers use the food and beverage facilities such as cafés or restaurants while waiting. Furthermore, one in five travelers shops within the airport complexes, with the offerings of duty-free shops and retailers being particularly popular with international passengers.