While Israelis continue to see Europe as their preferred vacation destination, with accessible flights and a variety of attractions within short distances, it turns out that Europeans themselves prefer to fly far beyond the borders of the European Union. This is particularly surprising given that they benefit from cheap intra-European flights and free movement between countries.

According to the latest Eurostat aviation report, in 2023, 49% of passengers flew to countries outside the European Union, compared to 36% who flew between EU countries, and only 15% who took domestic flights.

The data shows that Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris is the busiest airport in the EU — with 67 million passengers last year — followed by Schiphol in Amsterdam with 62 million passengers, and Barajas in Madrid with 60 million. However, Heathrow Airport in London was the busiest in all of Europe, with 79 million passengers.

Heathrow Airport in London (credit: REUTERS)
Heathrow Airport in London (credit: REUTERS)
With 973 million passengers traveling within or outside the EU in 2023, the European Union's aviation sector seems to have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Passenger numbers increased in all EU countries — especially in Malta (+33.3%), Slovenia (+30.9%), and the Czech Republic (+29.4%) — with an average rise of 19% across the EU compared to 2022.

Other European countries reported even higher increases: +47% in North Macedonia and +38% in Serbia.

Meanwhile, most flights taken by EU passengers outside the Union were to destinations within Europe (57.1%). When it comes to flights outside the continent, North America was the most preferred destination (11.1%), followed by Western Asia (9.4%), North Africa (8.8%), and South America (3.1%).