Rome Fiumicino capital of European skies: EU passenger numbers ‘boom’ in 2023

Brussels – Nel blu dipinto di blu, felice di stare lassù — it’s not just a song, but the reality of Roma/Fiumicino, the airport in Europe with the highest increase in passenger numbers in 2023, a year that saw an overall rise in air travel across the EU. Compared to a year earlier, the total number of passengers traveling by air within the territory of the European Union was 973 million, an increase of 19.3 percent over 2022 (816 million). In this renewed pleasure of flying, Rome proves to be the capital of the air. 

Rome Fiumicino, Eurostat notes in data released today (Dec. 6), is sixth among the top ten European hubs for number of people who transited through the airport. However, it recorded the highest increase among the top ten largest airports (+38.2 percent). The increase was virtually double the European average, showing a new centrality of an airport that has grown in traffic like no other. Rome did better than Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid, Amsterdam, and the other big cities.

The figures refer to a period before the approval of the merger between Ita and Lufthansa. The ‘yes’ to the operation, even though conditional, came only in July this year, and so it will be interesting to see if the deal can allow the airport of the Italian capital to grow further in terms of passenger movements, given the size of the two airlines and their presence at Fiumicino.

The European Statistical Institute captures a situation with two sides to it. While passenger traffic increased between 2022 and 2023, commercial traffic fell. In the same reporting period, total air cargo and mail transport in the EU decreased by 5.2 percent.