Cyprus air transport up 5.6% in 2005

Heathrow handles most passengers; Frankfurt freight

 

The total number of passengers transported by air in Cyprus during 2005 increased by 5.6% to 6.78 mln, lower than the EU15 average increase of 8.5% to more than 700 mln, according to Eurostat.

Cyprus recorded a 5.5% increase in freight transport to 3.9 mln tonnes, much better than the 3.5% average increase recorded by the EU 25.

Passenger numbers rose by 8.8% in 2004 and by 4.9% in 2003. Of these passengers, 23% were carried on national flights, 42% on intra-EU25 flights and 35% on extra-EU25 flights.

London/Heathrow remained the EU’s busiest airport in terms of passengers, handling 68 million in 2005 – nearly 10% of all air passengers in the EU25 – and up 1% compared to 2004.

Paris/Charles de Gaulle (53 million passengers, +5%) and Frankfurt (52 million, +2%) were the second and third busiest airports, followed by Amsterdam/Schipol (44 million, +4%) and Madrid/Barajas (42 million, +9%).

Passenger numbers rose in almost all Member States in 2005 compared to 2004. Five Member States recorded growth of 25% or more, the highest being Latvia (+77%), followed by Slovakia (+46%), Lithuania (+44%), Estonia (+41%) and Hungary (+25%). The highest numbers of passengers were registered in the United Kingdom (204 million, +6% compared to 2004), Germany (146 million, +8%), Spain (144 million, +11%), France (108 million, +5%) and Italy (88 million, +8%).

In 2005, air freight in the EU25 rose by 3.5% compared to 2004, to almost 11 million tonnes, 80% of which was with non-EU25 countries. Freight volumes rose by 9.6% in 20042. The main partners were North America, down 2% compared to 2004, and representing 30% of freight traffic with non-EU25 countries, the Far East (+7%, 28% of this traffic) and the Near and Middle East (+4%, 14% of this traffic).

German and British airports handled around half of all EU25 air freight. Frankfurt (2.0 million tonnes, +7% compared to 2004) was in 2005 the EU’s leading airport for air freight, followed by Amsterdam/Schipol (1.5 million, +2%), London/Heathrow (1.4 million, -2%) and Paris/Charles de Gaulle (1.2 million, -5%). Together, they handled 55% of all EU25 air freight. A second group, Brussels/National, Cologne/Bonn, and Luxembourg, each handling between 0.6 and 0.7 million tonnes, accounted for another 18%.