Eurostat: Air transport in the EU25

In 2003, compared with 2002, the number of air transport passengers1 in the EU25 grew by 4.9% to reach 590 million. The most significant increases were registered in some of the new Member States, Slovakia (+25.9%), the Czech Republic (+18.0%), Estonia (+17.8%) and Lithuania (+13.6%), while the largest falls were observed in Sweden (-7.3%) and Luxembourg (-3.7%).



The largest countries record the highest number of air passengers. In 2003, the United Kingdom registered 178 million passengers, followed by Germany (121 mn), Spain (120 mn), France (96 mn) and Italy (74 mn). Among these countries, the number of air passengers increased the most in 2003 in Italy (+13.3%), followed by Spain (+7.1%), Germany (+5.9%), and the United Kingdom (+5.5%), while it decreased in France (-0.2%).



London/Heathrow (United Kingdom) remained the busiest airport in the EU25 in 2003, followed by Frankfurt/Main (Germany) and Paris/Charles-de-Gaulle (France).



This information comes from a report2 released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, on air transport passengers in the EU25. Additional information for Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey as well as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland is also provided.



3 out of 4 passengers on an international flight



When looking at the breakdown between national and international transport, in 2003 three quarters of the total number of passengers in the EU25 were carried on international flights.



The United Kingdom, with 154 million passengers, led the international air transport market in 2003, followed by Germany (100 mn) and Spain (89 mn). The most important country-to-country relations were Spain-United Kingdom with 32 million passengers, Germany-Spain with 18 million, and France-United Kingdom with 10 million.



International passengers showed the same upwards trend as total air transport, and most Member States recorded an increase between 2002 and 2003. Rises ranged from +0.4% in Malta and +1.4% in France to +27.7% in Slovakia and +18.2% in the Czech Republic. Decreases were only recorded in Sweden (-7.0%), Luxembourg

(-3.7%), the Netherlands (-1.6%) and Denmark (-1.5%).



Spain, with 31 million passengers, recorded the highest number of national passengers, followed by France (27 mn), Italy and the United Kingdom (both 24 mn) and Germany (21 mn). Due to their size, these five countries accounted for 86% of the EU25 national transport market.



Air passenger transport, 2003

	Total transport		National transport		International transport
	Passengers (1000)	Growth (%) 2002/ 2003	Passengers (1000)	Growth (%) 2002/ 2003	Passengers (1000)	Growth (%) 2002/ 2003
EU25*	589 756	4.9	148 957	:	440 799	:
Belgium	15 087	11.3	2	69.0	15 085	11.3
Czech Republic	7 761	18.0	161	9.2	7 600	18.2
Denmark	19 575	-1.8	1 606	-4.6	17 969	-1.5
Germany	121 136	5.9	21 193	3.9	99 943	6.3
Estonia	710	17.8	15	11.8	695	17.9
Greece	28 237	:	5 030	:	23 207	:
Spain	120 248	7.1	31 324	7.9	88 925	6.8
France	96 296	-0.2	26 712	-4.3	69 584	1.4
Ireland	20 010	9.7	812	23.3	19 197	9.2
Italy	73 912	13.3	24 477	8.7	49 436	15.8
Cyprus	6 077	-2.1	1	:	6 077	:
Latvia	712	12.4	0	–	712	12.4
Lithuania	722	13.6	1	:	721	:
Luxembourg	1 449	-3.7	0	–	1 449	-3.7
Hungary	5 010	12.1	0	–	5 010	12.1
Malta	2 648	0.3	44	-6.5	2 604	0.4
Netherlands	41 168	-1.7	154	-14.7	41 014	-1.6
Austria	15 799	5.7	548	3.5	15 251	5.8
Poland	7 067	8.0	:	:	:	:
Portugal	17 739	2.1	2 853	-2.6	14 886	3.0
Slovenia	920	6.3	:	:	:	:
Slovakia	626	25.9	32	-0.5	594	27.7
Finland	10 516	2.1	2 701	-2.4	7 816	3.8
Sweden	20 441	-7.3	6 875	-7.7	13 567	-7.0
United Kingdom	177 946	5.5	24 416	8.0	153 530	5.1

More than 110 million passengers at the three main London airports



In 2003 London/Heathrow (United Kingdom) airport ranked first in the EU25, with a total volume of 63 million passengers, followed by Frankfurt/Main (Germany) and Paris/Charles-de-Gaulle (France) with 48 million each, Amsterdam/Schipol (Netherlands) with 40 million, and Madrid/Barajas (Spain) with 35 million.



Among the top 25 airports, four were found in the United Kingdom (London/Heathrow, London/Gatwick, Manchester/Intl and London/Stansted), Germany (Frankfurt/Main, Munchen, Dusseldorf and Berlin-Tegel) and Spain (Madrid/Barajas, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga), and two in France (Paris/Charles de Gaulle and Paris/Orly) and Italy (Roma/Fiumicino and Milano/Malpensa).



Three airports in the new Member States featured in the top 50 airports. Prague/Ruzyne (Czech Republic), with 7.4 million passengers was the busiest airport among the new Member States and ranked 36th. Warsaw/Okecie (Poland) and Budapest/Ferihegy (Hungary) with 5 million each were in 44th and 45th positions respectively.



Top 25 airports in EU25 in terms of total passengers carried in 2003

Rank	Country	Airport	Passengers (1 000)
1	United Kingdom	London/Heathrow	63 208
2	Germany	Frankfurt/Main	48 023
3	France	Paris/Charles de Gaulle	48 008
4	Netherlands	Amsterdam/Schiphol	39 807
5	Spain	Madrid/Barajas	35 370
6	United Kingdom	London/Gatwick	29 893
7	Italy	Roma/Fiumicino	25 473
8	Germany	München	23 953
9	Spain	Barcelona	22 492
10	France	Paris/Orly	22 449
11	United Kingdom	Mantchester/Intl	19 520
12	Spain	Palma de Mallorca	19 115
13	United Kingdom	London/Stansted	18 714
14	Denmark	Kobenhavn/Kastrup	17 677
15	Italy	Milano/Malpensa	17 483
16	Ireland	Dublin	15 916
17	Sweden	Stockholm/Arlanda	15 289
18	Belgium	Bruxelles/National	15 087
19	Germany	Düsseldorf	14 124
20	Austria	Wien/Schwechat	12 709
21	Greece	Athens	12 227
22	Spain	Málaga	11 410
23	Germany	Berlin-Tegel	11 027
24	Finland	Helsinki-Vantaa	9 707
25	Portugal	Lisboa	9 502

1Air passenger figures exclude double counting of national passenger transport, i.e. counting the same passengers twice, once reported by the origin airport as departures and once by the partner airport as arrivals. Similarly, the aggregated figures for the EU25 exclude the double counting effect on intra-EU traffic, thus for ‘total’ and ‘international’ air transport, Member States figures do not add up to the EU25 values. For example, a person flying from Paris to London will be counted in France as a ‘departure passenger’ and in the United Kingdom as an ‘arrival passenger’ but only once at EU25 level.



2Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, Theme 7, Transport, 4/2005, ‘Passenger air transport 2002-2003’.