Airports: Madrid ranks 4th, Milan and Rome get busier

The airport of Madrid/Barajas, with its 50 mln passengers is the fourth airport in the EU, ranking after London /Heathrow (66 mln), Paris/Charles De Gaulle (58 mln) and Frankfurt/Main (53 mln) and before Amsterdam/Schipol (45 mln). According to the information provided by Eurostat, the number of passengers handled in 2010 by the main airport of Spain increased by 3.9% on an annual basis; in Heathrow, the increase totaled 0.2%, in Charles De Gaulle 0.5%, in Frankfurt 4.1% and in Amsterdam Schipol 3.7%. Besides Turkey, where an amazing increase (+20.5%) in the number of passengers took place in 2010 over 2009, the EU airports where the number of passengers increased over the past are: Copenaghen/Kastrup (+9.1%), Vienna/Schwechat (+8.7%), Milan/Malpensa (+7.9%) and Rome/Fiumicino (+7.6%). At the national level, in 2010 the number of passengers decreased in Greece (-2.3%) Slovenia (-2.9%), against an increase by +7.9% in Croatia, +7.1% in Italy and +6.8% in Portugal. In the EU ranking, among Mediterranean countries, Spain boasts the largest number of airports among the top 30 ranks: Fiumicino ranks sixth, (35,954), Barcelona ranks ninth, (29,181), Paris Orly ranks tenth (25,158), Palma de Mallorca twelfth (21,079). Then come Milan (15th), Athens (21st), Lisbon (23rd), Malaga (26th), Nice (29th) and Alicante (30th). Travelers using Barajas services are mainly Spanish (19 mln), while Heathrow is used mainly by extra EU passengers (39 mln) and Amsterdam/Schipol by EU passengers (25 mln).