European airlines report 3.6% passenger rise

The Association of European Airlines has said that European airlines reported a year-on-year passenger traffic rise of 3.6% in the period January 16 to Febrary 1.

The Association said traffic was affected by security concerns on transatlantic routes, bad weather conditions in Europe and industrial action in Scandinavia.

Traffic on European routes rose by 3% while there was growth of 3.3% on the Far East and Australasian routes.

North Atlantic routes were lagging behind and showed only modest growth of 0.8% increase compared to a rise of 3% in the third week of January.