The total number of passengers travelling by air in the EU in 2024 was 1.1 billion, an increase of 8.3% compared with 2023 (973 million).
Data published by
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, show that in 2024, all
EU countries registered an increase in the number of passengers carried by air
compared with 2023.
Hungary (+19.2%),
Czechia (+18.9%) and Estonia (+17.8%) reported the largest increases, while the
lowest ones were in Sweden (+1.3%), Bulgaria (+3.8%) and France and Ireland
(both +4.6%).
Total air freight and
mail transport in the EU also saw an increase of 8.7% in 2024 compared with
2023. It was driven by a 10.8% growth in extra-EU transport, while intra-EU
transport was almost stable at +0.1% and domestic transport fell by 4.3%.
At national level,
Hungary (+65.9%), Czechia (+43.7%) and Greece (+36.7%) recorded the highest
increases, while only Poland (-3.6%) and Latvia (-2.7%) registered declines.
In 2024, among the 10
EU airports recording the biggest numbers of passengers carried were
Paris/Charles de Gaulle, with 70.3 million passengers (+4.3%),
Amsterdam/Schiphol, 66.8 million passengers (+8.0%), Madrid/Barajas, 66.1
million (+9.9%), Frankfurt/Main, 61.5 million (+3.7%) and Barcelona/El Prat,
which recorded 54.9 million (+10.3%).
Roma/Fiumicino placed
6th with 48.7 million passengers, but saw the highest increase among the top 10
airports (+20.8%). Athinai/Eleftherios Venizelos moved ahead and replaced
Paris-Orly in 2024, securing the 10th place thanks to a significant passenger growth
compared with 2023 (+19.6%).