14/02/2020 (Agence Europe) – Passenger traffic at European Union airports increased by only 3.3% in 2019, compared with 5.4% in 2018, the Airports Council International (ACI) revealed on Thursday 13 February. According to the IFA, this low growth is mainly due to the exposure of EU airports to airline bankruptcies as well as to the fact that EU airlines have generally limited the growth of their capacity and networks due to less favourable economic conditions and uncertainties related to Brexit. While the coronavirus outbreak has had only a marginal effect so far, "as wider economic consequences start kicking-in in China and potentially beyond, the impact on air traffic could become more widespread and significant for Europe’ airports", the ACI believes. International air freight traffic, for its part, fell by 1.9% in 2019, the worst performance since 2012. (DG)