Eurostat: Air passengers in EU more than doubled in 2022
In 2022, the total number of passengers travelling by air in the European Union was 820 million, a substantial increase of more than double (119 per cent) compared with 2021 (374 million), after the strong decline of 73 per cent in 2020 compared with 2019 due to pandemic restrictions, EU statistics agency Eurostat said on December 7.
Eurostat said that data show that in 2022, all EU countries registered an increase in the number of passengers carried by air transport compared with 2021.
These increases varied among the EU countries, with the largest reported in Ireland (+256 per cent), Slovakia and Finland (both +203 per cent). The lowest increases were in Cyprus (+69 per cent), Bulgaria (+74 per cent) and Greece (+80 per cent).
Extra-EU passenger transport represented 47 per cent of total air passenger transport in 2022.
Intra-EU transport represented 37 per cent and national transport represented 16 per cent.
Compared with 2021, the share of extra-EU transport increased by 8 percentage points (pp), while intra-EU transport decreased by 1 pp and national transport decreased by 7 pp.
In 2022, the top five EU airports remained the same as in 2021, but all recorded substantial increases.
Paris/Charles de Gaulle registered 57.5 million passengers carried (+119 per cent), Amsterdam/Schiphol 52.5 million passengers (+106 per cent), Madrid/Barajas 49.8 million (+115 per cent), Frankfurt/Main 48.8 million (+97 per cent) and Barcelona/El Prat recorded 41.2 million (+123 per cent).
Lisboa Airport placed sixth with 34.6 million passengers carried but saw the highest increase in the top 10 (+184 per cent). Palma de Mallorca (28.5 million) dropped to 10th place with a 97 per cent increase compared with 2021. Paris-Orly registered the smallest percentage increase in number of passengers carried in 2022 compared with 2021(+86 per cent), Eurostat said.
(Photo: Rui Caldeira/sxc.hu)
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