(06 December 2019) – In 2018, 1.1 billion passengers travelled by air in the EU, up by 6% compared with 2017 and by 43% compared with 2010. Over this period, air passenger transport has steadily risen in the EU.
In 2018, intra-EU transport represented almost half (46%) of total air passenger transport in the EU and extra-EU transport over a third (37%), while national transport accounted for fewer than 1 in every 5 passengers (16%).
In 2018, the largest number of air passengers was recorded in the United Kingdom (272 million passengers), followed by Germany (222 million), Spain (221 million), France (162 million) and Italy (153 million).
The number of air passengers carried in 2018 rose in all EU Member States compared with 2017. The highest increases were registered in Lithuania (+19%), Latvia, Poland and Slovakia (all +16%).
London/Heathrow remained the EU’s busiest passenger airport in 2018, with 80 million passengers handled, slightly up (+3%) compared with 2017. Paris/Charles de Gaulle (72 million, +4%), Amsterdam/Schiphol (71 million, +4%), Frankfurt/Main (69 million, +8%) and Madrid/Barajas (56 million, +9%) completed the top 5 of the busiest airports in the EU.