FAB CE controllers safely handled 2,153,000 flights in 2017, an increase in 4.5% over the previous year, according to the most recent figures from Eurocontrol.

All the major indicators were positive for the year – with airport arrivals up 5.8% at 329,700; departures also rising 5.8% to 329,600; overflights growing 3.9% over 2016 to 1,418,200 and internal flights rising 3.9% to 75,600.

The fastest growing airport in the FAB CE airspace alliance area was Split/Kastela, where daily movements were up 14.5% year-on-year, followed by Dubrovnik/Cilipi (13%) and Ljubljana/Brink (11.2%). 

“Our forecasts suggest that traffic will continue to rise over the next five years, though probably not at the same rate as last year,“ said Matej Eljon, FAB CE Programme Manager and Director of FAB CE Aviation Services. “This is a period of serious traffic growth in our region which will mean we have to focus even more intently on capacity-enhancing measures for our customers, while continuing to increase our efficiency and cost-performance targets.“

Flights share by market segment

Traditional scheduled

54%

Lowcost

30%

Business aviation

6%

Charter

4%

All-cargo

3%

Military

1%

Others

2%