Air passenger transport between main airports in each reporting country and partner reporting countries
methods, notes and classification
DATA_DESCR The Air transport domain contains national and international intra and extra-EU data. This provides air transport data for passengers (in number of passengers) and for freight and mail (in 1 000 tonnes) as well as air traffic data by airports, airlines and aircrafts. Data are transmitted to Eurostat by the Member States of the European Union as well as the Candidate Countries, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. The air transport data have been calculated using data collected at airport level. The data are presented in four sub-domains: Air Transport measurement - Passengers Air Transport measurement - Freight and mail Air Transport measurement - Traffic data by airports, aircraft and airlines Air Transport measurement - Data aggregated at standard regional levels (NUTS). The two first domains contain several data collections: Overview of the air transport by country and airport, National air transport by country and airport, International intra-EU air transport by country and airport, International extra-EU air transport by country and airport, Detailed air transport by reporting country and routes. In the tables of the sub-domain "Transport measurement - Passengers", data are broken down by passengers on board (arrivals, departures and total), passengers carried (arrivals, departures and total) and passenger commercial air flights (arrival, departures and total). Additionally, the tables of collection "Detailed air transport by reporting country and routes" provide data on seats available (arrival, departures and total). The data is presented at monthly, quarterly and annual level. In the tables of the sub-domain "Transport measurement - Freight and mail", data are broken down by freight and mail on board (arrival, departures and total), freight and mail loaded/unloaded (loaded, unloaded and total) and all-freight and mail commercial air flights (arrival, departures and total). The data is presented at monthly, quarterly and annual level. In the tables of the sub-domain "Transport measurement - Traffic by airports, aircrafts and airlines": - Data by type of aircraft are broken down by total passengers on board, total freight and mail on board in tonnes, total passengers seats available, total commercial air flights (passengers + all-freight and mail), passenger commercial air flights, all-freight and mail commercial air flights. The data is presented at annual level since 2003. - Data by type of airline are broken down by total passengers on board, total passengers carried, total freight and mail on board, total freight and mail loaded/unloaded, total passengers seats available, total commercial air flights (passengers + all-freight and mail), passenger commercial air flights, all-freight and mail commercial air flights. The data is presented at annual level since 2003. - Data by airport are broken down by total passengers carried, total transit passengers, total freight and mail loaded/unloaded, total commercial aircraft movements, total aircraft movements. The data is presented at monthly, quarterly and annual level. The sub-domain "Transport measurement - Data aggregated at standard regional levels (NUTS)", contains two tables: Air transport of passengers at regional level Air transport of freight at regional level The tables present the evolution of the number of passengers carried (if not available passengers on board) and the volume of freight and mail loaded or unloaded (if not available freight and mail on board) to/from the NUTS regions (level 2, 1 and 0) since 1999. The data is presented at annual level. The air transport regional data have been calculated using data collected at the airport level in the frame of draft Council and Parliament Regulation (95/C 325/08).
CLASS_SYSTEM Airports are classified according to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) airport coded as listed in ICAO document 7910. The aircraft are classified according to aggregated aircraft categories based on the ICAO aircraft codes as listed in ICAO document 8643. The airlines are classified according to the region where they are licensed: European Union or outside the European Union. The information is either directly provided by the data providers or derived from the ICAO airline codes as listed in the ICAO document 8585. á
STAT_CONC_DEF Regulation (EC) N░1358/2003, implementing Regulation N░437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air, mentions three datasets: the Flight Stage dataset, called A, the On Flight Origin/Destination dataset, called B and the Airport dataset, called C. Dataset A: This dataset contains periodic flight stage data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken down by arrivals/departures, scheduled/non-scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service, airline information and aircraft type. The values provided concern passengers on board, freight and mail on board, commercial air flights as well as passenger seats available. Dataset B: This dataset contains periodic on flight origin/destination data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken down by arrivals/departures, scheduled/non scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service and airline information. The values provided concern passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded. Dataset C: This dataset contains periodic airport data registered for declaring airports, and broken down by airline information. The values provided concern total passengers carried, total direct transit passengers, total freight and mail loaded or unloaded, total commercial aircraft movements and total aircraft movements. Before the adoption of the Regulations, not all the participating countries were providing data according to the two reporting concepts covered by the Regulation: "On flight origin and destination" (OFOD) and "Flight stage" (FS). The main concepts used in this domain are the following: Community airport A defined area on land or water in a Member State subject to the provisions of the treaty, which is intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft and open for commercial air services. Flight stage The operation of an aircraft from take-off to its next landing. This is linked to the definition of passengers (or freight and mail) on board. Passengers on board All passengers on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All revenue and non revenue passengers on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit passengers (counted at arrivals and departures). Direct transit passengers Passengers who, after a short stop, continue their journey on the same aircraft on a flight having the same flight number as the flight on which they arrive. Freight and mail on board All freight and mail on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All freight and mail on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit freight and mail (counted at arrivals and departures). Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage. On flight origin and destination Traffic on a commercial air service identified by a unique flight number subdivided by airport pairs in accordance with point of embarkation and point of disembarkation on that flight. For passengers, freight or mail where the airport of embarkation is not known, the aircraft origin should be deemed to be the point of embarkation; similarly, if the airport of disembarkation is not known, the aircraft destination should be deemed to be the point of disembarkation. This is linked to the definition of passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded. Passengers carried All passengers on a particular flight (with one flight number) counted once only and not repeatedly on each individual stage of that flight. All revenue and non-revenue passengers whose journey begins or terminates at the reporting airport and transfer passengers joining or leaving the flight at the reporting airport. Excludes direct transit passengers. Freight and mail loaded or unloaded All freight and mail loaded onto or unloaded from an aircraft. Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage. Excludes direct transit freight and mail. Conceptually speaking, figures obtained by applying the Flight Stage concept and the On Flight Origin/Destination concept are not comparable because of direct transit passengers, which are counted for "flight stages" but not for "on flight origin/destination".áThe following example shows the difference between the "On flight origin and destination" data and the "Flight Stage" data: a flight is operated on a route New York-London-Paris 185 passengers travel from New York to London, 135 from New York to Paris and 75 from London to Paris. Thus in terms of on flight origin/destination data the figures recorded are 185 passengers New York-London, 135 passengers New York-Paris and 75 passengers London-Paris. New York would record the figures for New York-London and New York-Paris; London would record New York-London and London-Paris; Paris would record New York-Paris and London-Paris. In terms of flight stage data there are two flight stages and the figures reported by New York and London airports are: New York-London 320=(185+135) passengers and by London and Paris airports are London-Paris 210=(135+75) passengers.
STAT_UNIT The data used in the domain are collected by the different data providers at the airport level.
STAT_POP As mentioned in the Regulation, four categories of Community airports are defined, the reported data differing following the airport's category. Category "0": Airports with less than 15 000 passenger units per year are considered as having only "occasional commercial traffic" without obligation to report. However, some countries report data on these airports which are disseminated. Category "1": Airports with between 15 000 and 150 000 passenger units per year shall transmit only aggregated airport data (Dataset C). Category "2": Airports with more than 150 000 passenger units and less than 1 500 000 passenger units per year shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (Datasets A, B and C). Category "3": Airports with at least 1 500 000 passenger units per year shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (Datasets A, B and C). A list of the airports obliged to deliver data according to the Regulation (categories 1, 2 and 3) is included on the Reference Manual for Air Transport Statistics (seeáAnnex at the bottom of this page).
REF_AREA The data cover the EU Member States, the Candidate Countries as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland. Aggregates are also provided for euro area, EU-25 and EU-27.
BASE_PER Not applicable
UNIT_MEASURE The units used depend on the elements collected and are: passengers, tonnes (for freight and mail), flights, aircraft movements and seats available.
Methods 
Explanatory Notes 
Variables