In the European Union, the number of passengers transported via planes increased by 8.5 percent, the steepest growth since 2004 when 10 new countries boosted air transport in Europe, the Hospodárske Noviny daily wrote on February 7.
The M.R. Štefánik Airport in Bratislava, with an 11 percent increase in the number of passengers ranked last year among the airports with the highest growth of numbers of transported people in Europe. This stems from the annual statistical report of the organisation clustering European airports, ACI Europe (Airports Council International Europe). Other airports with double-digit growth in numbers of passengers served include Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Portugal, the daily wrote.
The number of passengers at airports outside the EU grew in 11.4 percent. The outlook seems to be positive but the rising prices of fuels and declining number of air companies will probably dampen the growth, Hodspodárske noviny summed up.
