European Airports Hosted Over 700 Million Passengers in 2005

2005 was a record year for European airports with over two million passengers and 25 000 aircrafts taking to the sky, on an average day. This data was published on Tuesday by the European Organization for Safety of Air Navigation – Eurocontrol.

This trend is set to continue, with an anticipated 2.5 million passengers per day for the summer 2006 - equivalent to the population of Manchester or Warsaw.

Last year's record in European aviation resulted in over 700 million passengers on 9.2 million flights. Between 2004 and 2005, the number of flights grew by 4.5% and is expected to grow by another 3% in 2006.

Since 1999 in the EU, aviation traffic has grown by 15% and throughout the next ten years it is expected to grow by 35%. Simultaneously, the rate of accidents went down by 35%.

In 2005, growth was particularly notable in Eastern Europe with Croatia, Slovakia and Poland seeing respective growth of 18%, 17% and 16%. (Hina)

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