The number of air passengers increased by 8% in 2024

According to fresh data from Eurostat, the European aviation sector continued its strong recovery in 2024, with the number of passengers using air transport in the EU totalling 1.1 billion - an 8.3% increase on 2023 (973 million).

Particularly notable growth was observed in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary increased the number of air passengers by +19.2%, the Czech Republic by +18.9%, and Estonia by +17.8%. At the same time, the lowest growth was recorded in Sweden (+1.3 %), Bulgaria (+3.8 %), as well as in France and Ireland (both +4.6 %).

Air freight and mail volumes also grew in 2024, up 8.7 % year-on-year. Interestingly, this growth was almost entirely driven by international flights outside the EU, which grew by +10.8%. At the same time, intra-EU volumes remained almost unchanged (+0.1 %), while domestic traffic even decreased by 4.3 %.

Hungary (+65.9 %), the Czech Republic (+43.7 %) and Greece (+36.7 %) again stand out among the countries that showed the highest growth in air cargo traffic. Only Poland (-3.6 %) and Latvia (-2.7 %) showed a decrease.