Europe's Small Airports See Takeoff in Passenger Numbers

BRUSSELS, Belgium_Europe's smallest airports saw the biggest takeoff in passenger traffic last year, the Airports Council International said Thursday.

Airports with less than 5 million passengers every year saw an average increase of 13.3 percent compared with 2004, it said. Numbers increased across the board at all airports, going up 5.8 percent over 2004.

Passenger numbers went up 76.6 percent in Latvia's Riga airport, 66.6 percent in Rome's second airport Ciampino and 49.4 percent in the Spanish regional capital of Valencia.

Many small regional airports offer lower landing fees to airlines than large city hubs, and so are increasingly being used by budget airlines.

ACI Europe said, however, that the increases in passenger traffic showed that industry and government needed to do more to provide enough capacity to meet demand.

"Brave decisions will have to be made on both sides," it said. "The alternative is congestion, poor service, less competition and a failure to meet people's needs and expectations."

European policy makers have floated several ideas for extra taxes or charges on aviation, some to counter the impact flight fuel emissions have on the environment.

Last month, Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel suggested an airline tax to pay into the EU budget. And in September, the European Commission approved plans to include airlines in the EU's emissions trading program aimed at cutting carbon dioxide, which some airlines said could push up ticket prices.

The plans, part of the EU's implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, still need approval from the European Parliament and EU governments, and would not come into effect before 2008.