Poland comes third in EU for air passenger growth
The number of airline passengers at Polish airports went up by 16.1 percent year on year in 2018, the third highest growth rate in the EU, after Lithuania and Slovakia, the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) has reported.
The top five air passenger markets in the EU are the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France and Italy, unchanged from 2017, PIE said.
Polish airports serviced 43.7 mln passengers in 2018, up from 37.7 mln a year before, the institute added.
Among Europe's 30 biggest airports, Warsaw Chopin Airport reported the second largest growth at 12.8 percent in 2018, handling almost 16 mln passengers. A year before, the airport took the podium with a 22.7 percent growth.
In 2018, Budapest's Liszt Ferenc International Airport came first with 13.6 percent annual growth in passenger numbers.
London Heathrow remained the biggest airport in Europe, with 80 mln passengers, and was followed by Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, Paris, and Schiphol, Amsterdam.
Most passengers, 72 percent, travel from Poland to other EU countries, 24 percent fly outside the EU and 4 percent choose domestic routes.
The Polish Economic Institute (PIE) is a public economic think tank, providing analyses and studies for the implementation of the government's long-term economic strategy, as well as popularising Polish social and economic research abroad.
