European aviation hits all-time weekly record with 250,291 flights
According to Eurocontrol agency, Europe’s skies set a new milestone in Week 35 (25-31 August 2025), with air traffic reaching the highest levels ever recorded across the network: an average of 35,756 flights per day, totaling 250,291 flights for the week. That’s 0.7% higher than Week 34 and 4% above the same period in 2024.
But the record week was also marked by severe convective storms, which disrupted operations across large parts of the continent. Delays surged 31% compared to Week 34, pushing overall arrival punctuality down 2.8 points to 71%. Still, weather impacts were 3.1% lower than in Week 35 of 2024, signaling a stronger, more resilient network.
Weather was the primary driver behind a sharp rise in air traffic flow management (ATFM) delays, which averaged 4.3 minutes per flight, about 1% higher than last year. In total, 63,000 flights—roughly a quarter of all daily traffic—were affected by ATFM restrictions.
Even so, proactive measures helped soften the blow. The Eurocontrol Network Manager, working with air navigation service providers, implemented pre-agreed rerouting scenarios that saved 74,000 delay minutes, or about 16% of total weather-related delays.
France, Greece, and Spain were the main hot spots, generating 29%, 12%, and 10% of all network delays, respectively. France’s issues stemmed from both staffing and weather, while Spain struggled with capacity constraints under high demand. Greece faced a mix of staff shortages and storms.
The single largest contributor was the Marseille Area Control Centre, responsible for 140,000 minutes of delays after failing to deliver planned capacity. Meanwhile, industrial action at Belgrade ACC added 41,000 minutes, in line with disruption levels seen in previous summer weeks.
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