Economic crisis stops air transport growth

In 2008, 798 million passengers were transported by air to, from or within the EU-27. Although this represents a small annual growth of 0.6% compared to 2007, the effect of the economic crisis on the air transport industry of the EU-27 became apparent during the course of the year. Indeed, while in the first two quarters of 2008, a comparison of air passengers with 2007 indicated a growth of 4.4%, by the last quarter, the data showed a fall of 5.6%. This brings to an end an uninterrupted period of six years of sustained growth in the air transport industry. As regards air transport of freight and mail, the picture is similar. In 2008, 12.9 million tonnes were loaded or unloaded in the EU-27, an annual increase of 3.3%. However, there was a declining trend over the year that ended with a 14% decrease by the month of December. At airport level, London Heathrow and Frankfurt/Main continued to be the largest airports in the EU-27 in terms of passengers carried and freight and mail loaded/unloaded respectively.

Eurostat: News Release No.174, 2009: Air passenger transport up by 0.6% in 2008 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-press-releases/-/7-04122009-AP

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