According to Eurostat data released on Tuesday, air passenger transport in Cyprus in 2007 had among the lowest increases in EU27, since it hardly rose 4% to 7 million passengers. The total number of passengers1 transported by air in the EU27 rose by 7.3% in 2007 compared with 2006, to 793 million.

The lowest growth rates were reported in Luxembourg (+2%), the United Kingdom (+3%), the Netherlands, Hungary and Cyprus (all +4%).

The number of air passengers rose in 2007 in all EU Member States. Four Member States recorded growth of above 20% compared with 2006: Romania (+41%), Latvia (+27%), Poland (+25%) and Lithuania (+22%). In 2007, the highest numbers of passengers were registered in the United Kingdom (217 mn, +3%), Germany (164 mn, +6%), Spain (164 mn, +9%), France (120 mn, +6%) and Italy (106 mn, +11%).

London/Heathrow is still the EU’s busiest passenger airport, with 68 million passengers handled in 2007.