A billion air travelers in the EU

Air traffic is growing at a high pace in the European Union. Last year, almost one billion passengers travelled by plane in the EU. Compared to 2015, the number was up 5.9 percent.

According to the European statistical office Eurostat, air travel has gone up steadily since 2009. Approximately half of the total number of people transported (46%), flew through European airspace in 2016. More than one third of these (35.6%) had a destination outside the EU. One in five passengers were transported within the same national borders.

In 2016, the UK had the highest number of air passengers, with a total of 249 million passengers. Germany (201 million), Spain (194 million) and Italy (135 million) followed. In 2016, the Netherlands received 70 million passengers, almost 9 percent more than in 2015.

London Heathrow remained the EU's busiest passenger airport in 2016, with 75.7 million passengers handled, up 1.0% compared with 2015. Paris Charles de Gaulle (65.8 million, +0.3%), Amsterdam Schiphol (63.6 million, +9.3%), Frankfurt (60.7 million, -0.4%) and Madrid Barajas (49.2 million, +6.2%) ranked as the top five of the busiest airports in the EU.

Further reading on centreforaviation.com