06/12/2018 (Agence Europe) – The number of air passengers in the EU exceeded one billion for the first time in 2017, according to a study published by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Thursday 6 December. Eurostat reports that in fact the number of passengers travelling by air in the EU reached 1.043 billion last year, an increase of 7% compared to 2016. International intra-EU travel accounted for 47% of travellers, domestic travel for 17% of passengers, and 36% for travel to non-EU Member States. The United Kingdom had the highest number of registered passengers, with 265 million passengers, followed by Germany (212 million) and Spain (210 million). The three EU airports with the highest passenger numbers were London/Heathrow (78 million), Paris/Charles de Gaulle (69 million) and Amsterdam/Schipol (68 million). (LT)