OREANDA-NEWS. In 2014, 879.4 million passengers travelled by air in the European Union (EU), up by 4.4% compared with 2013 and by 16.9% compared to 2009. Over this period, air passenger transport has steadily risen in the EU.

In 2014, intra-EU transport represented 44.1% of total air passenger transport in the EU, followed by extra-EU transport (38.1%), while national transport accounted for fewer than 1 in every 5 passengers (17.7%).

In the EU in 2014, 3 people were killed in commercial air transport accidents. Since 2009, victims amounted in total to 77 persons on the EU territory.

Largest increase in air passenger transport in Greece, Luxembourg and Poland

In 2014, one in four air passengers was recorded in the United Kingdom, where total air passenger transport amounted to 220 million. It was followed by Germany (186 million passengers), Spain (165 mn), France (142 mn) and Italy (121 mn). The number of air passengers carried in 2014 rose in all EU Member States compared with 2013. The largest increases were registered in Greece (+16.3%), Luxembourg (+12.2%) and Poland (+10.5%), while the lowest were observed in Latvia (+0.4%), the Czech Republic (+1.6%), Austria (+2.4%) and France (+2.6%). Overall in the EU, the number of air passengers rose by 4.4% between 2013 and 2014.

London/Heathrow, Paris/Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt/Main: top 3 passenger airports in the EU

London/Heathrow remained the EU’s busiest passenger airport in 2014, with 73.4 million passengers handled, slightly up (+1.4%) compared with 2013. Paris/Charles de Gaulle (63.7 mn, +2.8%), Frankfurt/Main (59.4 mn, +2.7%) and Amsterdam/Schiphol (55.0 mn, +4.6%) were the second, third and fourth busiest airports, followed at a distance by Madrid/Barajas (41.5 mn, +4.7%), München (39.6 mn, +2.7%), Roma/Fiumicino (38.3 mn, +6.5%), London/Gatwick (38.1 mn, +7.5%) and Barcelona (37.4 mn, +6.4%). Each of the top 30 airports registered an increase in the number of passengers handled in 2014, except Warszawa/Chopina (-0.9%) in Poland. The highest rise among the top 30 airports was registered in Athens (+21.8%), followed by Brussels (+14.6%), Lisboa (+13.3%) and London Stansted (+11.7%)

As in 2013, London/Heathrow (43.6 million) handled in 2014 the most passengers on extra-EU transport, Amsterdam/Schiphol (31.1 mn) the most on intra-EU transport and Paris/Orly (14.0 mn) the most on national transport.