Brussels, 23/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - In a press release published on Friday 19 December, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) confirmed a gradual drop in air traffic in Europe. According to data from the month of November, the volume of air traffic was down 4.7% compared to the same period of the previous year- a decrease which is similar to the one which arose as a result of Gulf War in early 2003. In total, more than 25.6 million passengers were boarded during this month (19.4 million in Europe for national and intra-Community flights and 6.3 million for flights outside the EU). As regards international flights, trans-Atlantic routes were the worst affected in November (-7%), followed by intra-Community flights (-5.4%); the principal airlines were dealing with around 30,000 fewer passengers each day. Air goods traffic experienced even greater losses, with a drop in traffic of 11.4% in November 2008 (3.02 million tonnes-kilometres of freight transported in total). According to the AEA, air traffic is nonetheless set to register a slight increase (not more than 1%) over the entire year. (A.By./trans.fl)