European air traffic on the increase

The number of passengers travelling on European Regions Airline Association (ERA) airlines rose by 8.5 per cent according to a recent report.

ERA traffic statistics for January to March 2006 show that intra-European airline traffic is up almost four points from the same period in 2005.

The report also reveals a rise in passenger load factor, reaching 60.5 per cent and scheduled passenger kilometres flown, which saw growth of 8.4 per cent, although this figure is down from the previous year.

Mike Ambrose, ERA director general, commented: "These figures show that demand for air travel within Europe is high, but that ERA airlines are meeting this demand without increasing capacity at the same rate, once again demonstrating their flexibility, adaptability, cost efficiency and environmental sensitivity."

On-time departures were slightly down on the previous year, with a punctuality rate of 83 per cent, compared to 85 per cent of flights leaving on time in 2005.

However, the first quarter of 2006 saw fewer flights cancelled than the same period in 2005, with 97.4 per cent of flights departing as planned.

Spanair has announced that it plans to increase the number of direct flights out of Barcelona airport to 40 per day, raising the number of passengers it serves from the airport by 60 per cent by 2010.

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