By Relaxnews, Updated: 08/08/2012

European air traffic up 2.3% in first half of 2012

Passenger traffic at European airports increased by 2.3% in the first six months of the year when compared to the same period in 2011, revealed ACI Europe's latest Airport Traffic Report.

Passenger traffic growth within the EU (+1.3%) remained weaker than in non-EU airports (+9.1%).

European airports with a handling capacity of 5 million to 10 million passengers a year saw an increase of 3.7% in passenger traffic in June, when compared to the same month in 2011. Bucharest OTP and Warsaw WAW respectively reported a +49.1% and +17.2% increase.

The biggest European airports -- welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year -- reported an average increase of 3%. Istanbul IST (+25.2%), Frankfurt (+5.4%) and Barcelona (+5.2%) stand above that average.

The hubs welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers a year reported a rise of 2.9%, with Moscow SVO (+13.7%), Berlin TXL (+10.0%) and Vienna (+7.1%) well above the average.

The average increase in the smallest European airports is 1.5%, with Ohrid Macedonia (+32.1%), Paphos Cyprus (+28.5%) and Zadar Croatia (+26.7%) reporting a stronger rise.

The report examines 168 European airports, which account for represent 88% of European passenger traffic.