In 2023, the total number of passengers travelling by air in the EU was 973 million, 19.3% more than in 2022 (816 million).
The data show that in 2023, all EU countries recorded an increase in the number of passengers carried by air compared to 2022. Passengers carried are passengers on a particular flight counted only once and not repeatedly on each individual leg of that flight. Excludes direct transit passengers. Malta (+33.3%), Slovenia (+30.9%) and the Czech Republic (+29.4%) recorded the highest increases, while the lowest increases were recorded in Estonia (+7.9%), Greece (+9.6%) and Lithuania (+12.3%).
Small decline in air freight and mail transport by air
However, total air freight and mail transport in the EU fell by 5.2% in 2023 compared to 2022. Domestic, intra-EU and extra-EU transport recorded declines, -4.1%, -5.0% and -5.3%, respectively.
At national level, the decrease was recorded in Slovakia (-38.6%), followed by Estonia (-22.6%) and Luxembourg (-18.0%), while the highest increase was recorded in Spain (+17.9), Malta (+17.6%) and Finland (+9.0%).
The top 5 airports recorded significant increases in passenger numbers.
In 2023, the top five EU airports remained the same as in 2022, but all recorded significant increases. Paris/Charles de Gaulle recorded 67.4 million passengers carried (+17.3%), Amsterdam/Schiphol 61.9 million passengers (+17.9%), Madrid/Barajas 60.1 million (+20.4%), Frankfurt/Main 59.3 million (+21.5%) and Barcelona/El Prat recorded 49.8 million (+20.6%).
Rome/Fiumicino ranks sixth with 40.3 million passengers transported, but is the airport with the highest increase among the top 10 (+38.2%). Paris-Orly drops from eighth to tenth place, recording the smallest percentage increase in the number of passengers carried in 2023 compared to 2022 (+10.6%).
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