Air passenger traffic up in Europe in May

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Air passenger traffic in Europe rose 6.1 percent in May compared to the same month last year -- including a leap of nearly 33 percent in the Turkish Mediterranean resort city of Antalya -- an airport authority said on Friday.

"The non-EU market continued to lead the growth dynamic, with passenger traffic up by 8 percent," Airports Council International (ACI) Europe said in a statement.

Top gains of the region were at airports in Georgia (27 percent), Iceland (26.5 percent), and Montenegro (22.2 percent), while Russia (8.6 percent) and Turkey (7.5 percent) had a more moderate pace of growth in May, according to an ACI report.

Passenger traffic in EU markets also rose 5.5 percent during the same period, said the report.

Among airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year in May, Turkey’s Antalya airport led with a 32.7 percent rise year-on-year, followed by Lisbon (13.4 percent), Moscow SVO (11.5 percent), Dublin (10.2 percent), and Madrid (9.6 percent).

Passenger traffic in the top five European airports grew 3 percent thanks to the rise in Frankfurt airport (9.5 percent), it added.

Freight traffic across the European airport network was almost flat in May, inching up 0.8 percent.

"Aircraft movements were up 2.6 percent, increasing by just 1.9 percent in the EU market and 4.2 percent in the non-EU bloc," the ACI report said.

The ACI Europe airport traffic report includes 229 airports in total, representing more than 88 percent of European air passenger traffic.

ACI Europe represents over 500 airports in 45 European countries.