Brussels, 17 Feb.- The airports of Barcelona, ​​Alicante and Malaga are the Spanish aerodromes that registered a greater rise in passenger traffic in 2016, a year in which the whole of the European air network saw the influx increase by 5, 1% and in which the terrorist attacks stifled demand in France and Belgium.

The impact of the attacks was also felt, albeit to a lesser extent, in passenger traffic in Germany, according to data released today by the European branch of Airports International Council (ACI). Despite this, overall growth was higher in the Community market, by 6.7%, compared to a fall in European non-EU airports of 0.9%, due to traffic contraction at Turkish aerodromes ( -6.6%), mainly due to terrorism and political instability.

"The significant drop in leisure demand at Turkish airports has contributed to good data on the European Union market, with demand in Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Spain" European ICA.

Among the largest airports (with more than 25 passengers a year), Dublin (11.5%), Barcelona (11.2%), Amsterdam (9.2%), Copenhagen (9.1%) And Madrid (7.7%).

In a second group (10 to 25 million passengers) the airports of Alicante (16.8%) led the growth; Málaga (15.8%); Cologne (15.2%); Warsaw-Chopin (14.5%) and Birmingham (14.3%).

In a third group (between 5 and 10 million passengers), the Berlin Schönefeld (36.7%), Larnaca (24.2%), Faro (18.6%), Bucharest-Henri Coanda , 3%) and Porto (16%).

Traffic increased at the smallest airports of Oradea (487.7%), Iasi (131.3%), Bucharest Aurel-Vlaicu (121.8%), Ostende (64.5%), Palanga and Kharkov 60.1%).

Among the larger airports, Amsterdam replaced Istanbul Atatürk as Europe's third-busiest airport with 63.6 million passengers a year, behind London-Heathrow (75.7 million) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (65.9 million).

The Istanbul-Atatürk airfield, with a 2.1% overall drop in passenger traffic, was thus in fifth place (60 million passengers) while Frankfurt remained the fourth most frequented (60.7 million passengers) .

Madrid and Barcelona are in sixth and seventh positions, with 50.4 and 44.1 million passengers, in both cases growing, of 7.7% and 11.2%, respectively.

Behind them are London-Gatwick, Munich and Rome Fuimicino. Brussels Zaventem airport (number 26 on the list of European airports) saw a global passenger drop of 7% in 2016. (EFE)