00:00Europe's skies are busier than ever this summer despite rising fuel costs.
00:08The EU had more commercial flights this August than in either of the previous two years.
00:14Despite rising jet fuel prices, Eurostats counted almost 709,000 flights across the block,
00:202.3% more than in August last year and 5.7% more than in August 2024.
00:26It was part of a busier summer overall. June saw just over 662,000 flights, up 2.1% on
00:34a year earlier.
00:36July was the busiest month with almost 710,000 flights, up 2.8%.
00:43The increase comes at a difficult period for airline fuel costs. Eurocontrol says that European
00:48jet fuel prices rose again in August after falling during the spring. But the flight numbers tell a
00:54different story across the EU. In August, they rose in 19 member states and fell in eight.
00:59Slovakia recorded the biggest increase from a year earlier at 37%, followed by Malta at 12.4% and
01:06Estonia at 8.3%. Austria saw the steepest fall at 4.7%, Cyprus was down 3% and Germany 2
01:14.4%.
01:16Eurostats count includes commercial passenger flights as well as flights carrying freight and mail.
01:22So while flights increased across the EU overall, that growth was far from evenly spread.
