Almost 1 billion passengers traveled by air in the European Union (EU) in 2016, with Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus registering the largest increases in air passenger transport, according to EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

The number of air passengers carried in 2016 rose in all EU Member States compared with 2015, except in Belgium (-2.7%) and Slovenia (-2.2%). Bulgaria saw the largest year-on-year growth of 22.5%, followed by Romania with 20.5%, and Cyprus with 18.1%.

Overall in the EU, the number of air passengers rose by 54.4 million (+5.9%) between 2015 and 2016, notably driven by the rise in intra-EU transport (+10.2%).

Meanwhile, the largest number of air passengers was recorded in the United Kingdom, where total air passenger transport amounted to 249 million, followed by Germany - 201 million passengers, Spain - 194 million, France - 145 million, and Italy - 135 million.

London/Heathrow remained the EU’s busiest passenger airport in 2016, with 75.7 million passengers handled, up 1% year-on-year. The Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris came second in the top, with 65.8 million passengers, followed by Amsterdam/Schiphol – 63.6 million, Frankfurt/Main – 60.7 million, and Madrid/Barajas – 49.2 million.

Romania’s biggest airport Henri Coanda ranks low in the top, with almost 11 million passengers handled last year. However, the number was 18.4% higher than in 2015.

Romania’s Cluj-Napoca airport records 2 million passengers

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com