Euro airlines show 11% passenger increase

Travellers are returning to the skies in growing numbers, European airlines said today.

The 32 member Association of European Airlines said 25 million passengers flew 33 billion miles on its planes during April.

That was an 11% increase in passenger numbers over April last year, and an 18% rise in total distance flown by those passengers.

The biggest improvements were on flights to the Middle East, which were up more than 60%, and to the Far East, which were up almost 45%.

The problem in April 2003 was “most pronounced on the Far Eastern routes but was more widespread, both through the connecting-passenger market and due to a more general reluctance to travel,” the association said.

European carriers reported major drops in the early part of 2003 because of the war in Iraq – at the height of hostilities Middle East passenger numbers were down by 52% from the previous year – and health fears linked to the outbreak of SARS in China and other Asian nations.