Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union

E3: Transport

5, Rue Alphonse Weicker L- 2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG G-D

The Questionnaire on Air Transport Statistics is aimed to collect aggregated annual data on the air transport sector for the following domains:

I. Infrastructure (covering commercial airports only) (status at 31/12)

II. Enterprises, economic performance and employment (status at 31/12)

Data are collected and disseminated at country level or at airport level for major European airports.

The questionnaire is not supported by any legal acts and it is based on a gentlemen's agreement with the participating countries (Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK (until 2018 reference year), North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro). Eurostat using its own sources as well as other ones usually prefills it (e.g. Airclaims for airport data) and sent to the countries for completion and validation (exception: aircraft fleet). Data on aircraft fleet, being extracted from an official source (Cirium database), are not included anymore for validation in the prefilled questionnaires.

Given the voluntary nature of the data collected, the completeness of the information varies from country to country.

Please note that information concerning data collected in the frame of the Air Transport Statistics Regulation can be found in the metadata documentation provided for this domain (Air Transport Measurement).

The section on "Infrastructure" contains three tables:

• Number of commercial airports (avia_if_arp) - it includes number of main airports (with more than 150 000 passenger units per year), other airports (between 15 000 and 150 000 passenger units per year) and small airports (below 15 000 passenger units per year) at country level

• Airport infrastructures by type (avia_if_typ) - it includes main airports only.

• Airport connections to other modes of transport (avia_if_arp_co) - it covers main airports only. Since 2013 reference year, only intermodal storage area in m² has been updated.

Please note the number of main and other airports is derived from the regulatory data collection (Regulation 473/2003) while information on small airports (below 15 000 passenger units per year) are available only if provided by a country (as small airports are exempted from regulatory data provision).

The section on "Air Transport Equipment" (avia_eq) that contains four tables:

• Commercial aircraft fleet by aircraft category and country of operator (avia_eq_arc_typ)
• Commercial aircraft fleet by age of aircraft and country of operator (avia_eq_arc_age)
• Commercial aircraft fleet by aircraft category and country of registration (avia_eq_arc_typreg)
• Commercial aircraft fleet by age of aircraft and country of registration (avia_eq_arc_agereg)

The section on "Enterprises economic performance and employment" contains three tables:

• Number of aviation and airport enterprises at country level (avia_ec_enterp)– due to low response rate the table is no longer updated; latest data from 2013

• Employment in aviation and airport enterprises by sex (avia_ec_emp_ent)– due to low response rate the table is no longer updated; latest data from 2013

• Employment in main airports by sex (avia_ec_emp_arp)– due to low response rate the table contains data on total employment only.

Airports are classified according to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) airport coded as listed in ICAO document 7910.

The geographical classification for country codes (ISO 3166) is applied for dissemination purposes.

Air transport (general aviation)

The majority of the definitions are based on the "Glossary on Air Transport Statistics" (see Annex at the bottom of this page).

Number of airports (main and other) is compiled following the provisions of the 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 (more info in avia_pa_esms metadata).

INFRASTRUCTURE

Airport – a defined area of land or water (including any buildings, installations and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft and open for commercial air transport operations.

The airports included in this domain are predominantly those reporting more than 15 000 passenger movements per year (reporting threshold). For some countries, the number of small airports (below the reporting threshold) is available. Main airports are those reporting more than 150 000 passenger movements per year.

Please note the following codes used in the dissemination table avia_if_arp:

• AIRP (Airports) = AIRP_MAIN (Main airports) + AIRP_OTH (Other airports)
• TOTAL (Total) = AIRP (Airports) + AIRP_SMALL (Other airports)

Airport runways - a defined rectangular area on an airport prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft with the following characteristics:

• Take-off run available - the length of runway declared available and suitable for the ground run of an aircraft taking off.
• Landing distance available - the length of runway which is declared available and suitable for the ground run of an aircraft landing.

Check-in Facilities:

• Conventional – a conventional check-in facility where airline staff handle ticket processing, luggage labelling, including fast bag drops, and issue of boarding cards directly
• Self service check-in kiosks – a kiosk providing check-in facilities and offering automatic ticket processing, boarding cards and, in some cases, luggage label printing.

Passenger gates – an area of a passenger terminal where passengers gather prior to boarding their aircraft. The gates can be:

• With finger bridges (jetbridges or jetways) – a gate with a finger bridge connecting to the aircraft to allow boarding without descending to ground level and using steps to board.
• Other – gates other than those with finger bridges.

Airport car parking – parking facilities provided at the airport.

• Short stay – parking where the maximum permitted duration of stay is less than 24 hours.
• Medium and long stay (long term) – parking where the maximum permitted duration of stay is 24 hours or more.

For remote parking facilities, only those served by airport buses should be included.

Connections to other modes of transport – facilities provided within the airport for connection to the following modes of surface transport (data no longer collected, latest data from 2013).

• High speed rail – access to high speed rail services
• Main line rail – access to main line rail services
• Metro – access to city metro and underground services
• Inter urban bus services – access to express and inter urban coach services
• City bus services – access to local bus services

Intermodal freight facilities – Intermodal transport terminal - a structure equipped for the transhipment and storage of intermodal transport units (ITUs) between at least two transport modes or between two different rail systems, and for temporary storage of freight, such as ports, inland ports, airports and rail-road terminals.

Intermodal transport terminals often perform as hubs in a ‘Hub and Spoke’ distribution concept which relates to collection through a central point (the hub) and distribution in various directions (the spokes). The hub is a central point for the collection, sorting, transhipment and distribution of goods for a particular region.

The information which is provided within questionnaire is the area of the terminal (in square metres).

TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT (FLEET)

Aircraft – any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air other than the reactions of air against the earth’s surface.

Dirigibles and surface effect vehicles such as hovercraft are excluded. ICAO provides aircraft type designators in ICAO Document 8643.

Aircraft fleet derived from Cirium database includes aircraft with “in service” - status on 31^st of December by country of operator and by country of registration. The data present main types of aircraft (primary use is taken into account only) and cover commercial aircraft (freight, quick change and passenger aircraft) as well as two additional types included into ‘Other’. The ‘Other’ category includes commercial business jets used as air taxi or air charter and some non-commercial aircraft, namely business jets used by private companies and special purpose aircrafts (ambulance and fire-fighting including water-bomber and chemical spray aircraft). Propeller aircraft used for Business purpose (other than to general public) and powered with piston- or turbine-engine (turboprop) are excluded.

In 2021 time series on aircraft fleet were revised. Cargo aircraft split into two categories (under & over 100 000lbs MTOW). Combi aircraft are no longer presented as a separate category and are included in passenger aircraft.

Aircraft by configuration

• Passenger aircraft – an aircraft configured for the transport of passengers and their baggage. Any freight, including mail, is generally carried in cargo holds in the belly of the aircraft.

Passenger aircraft are split into four classes based on seats available:

Passenger aircraft with 50 or less seats

Passenger aircraft with 51 to 150 seats

Passenger aircraft with 151 to 250 seats

Passenger aircraft with more than 250 seats

• Cargo aircraft – an aircraft configured solely for the carriage of freight and/or mail. Persons accompanying certain kinds of cargo, such as livestock, may also be carried. They are split into:

• Quick change aircraft – an aircraft designed to allow a quick change of configuration from passenger to cargo and vice versa.

• Other – other aircraft used for commercial and non-commercial air transport as well as some special purpose aircraft.

Aircraft age – years since first registration of an aircraft.

The data are broken down according to the following age classes: 0–4 years; 5–9 years; 10–14 years; 15–19 years; More than 20 years.

ENTERPRISES, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND EMPLOYMENT

Air transport enterprise – any enterprise providing services linked to the transport of passengers and goods by air. Included are the following:

• Airline (Commercial air transport operator) – an aviation enterprise operating aircraft for commercial purposes which (i) performs scheduled or non-scheduled air transport services, or both, which are available to the public for carriage of passengers, mail, and /or cargo and (ii) is certified for such purposes by the civil aviation authority of the state in which it is established.
• Airport operator – an air transport undertaking operating a commercial airport.
• Air traffic control provider – an air transport undertaking providing air traffic control services.
• Airport services provider – an undertaking providing airport services such as aircraft ground handling, fuelling, maintenance and security, passenger services such as check in, baggage handling, cargo handling and other services.

Employment

Employment is the number of persons employed, i.e. the total number of persons who work in the enterprise (inclusive of working proprietors, partners working regularly in the enterprise and unpaid family workers), as well as persons who work outside the enterprise who belong to it and are paid by it (e.g. sales representatives, delivery personnel, repair and maintenance teams). It includes persons absent for a short period (e.g. sick leave, paid leave or special leave), and also those on strike, but not those absent for an indefinite period. It also includes part-time workers who are regarded as such under the laws of the country concerned and who are on the pay-roll, as well as seasonal workers, apprentices and home workers on the pay-roll.

The number of persons employed excludes manpower supplied to the enterprise by other enterprises, persons carrying out repair and maintenance work in the enquiry enterprise on behalf of other enterprises, as well as those on compulsory military service. On the other hand, persons who are at the disposal of an enterprise for commercial reasons on the basis of a long term contract (i.e. demonstrators in department stores) should be included as employees of the enterprise where they work rather than in the enterprise with which they have their employment contract.

Types of employment

• General administration – includes central and regional management staff (e.g. finance, legal, personnel etc.) and boards of directors.

The management staff of specialist departments (operations and traffic, aircraft, air traffic control, runway and terminal construction and maintenance, emergency services) is excluded but are taken into account in the statistics specific to each of these services.

• Operations and traffic – cabin and ground crews (excluding flight deck staff) and associated central and regional offices. Includes tourism, advertising and terminal operations.
• Aircraft – flight deck staff, maintenance and inspection staff and associated central and regional offices.
• Airports – air traffic control staff, terminals, runway and other airport facilities construction, maintenance and supervision staff, ground handling staff, emergency services staff.
• Other operations – passenger and freight services, freight shipment services etc.

The data used in the domain are collected at airport or country level.

Each year and for each reporting country, Eurostat pre-fills the questionnaire using its own data (e.g.: coming from Regulation 437/2003 for the number of airports) and other reliable data sources. The questionnaire is sent to the countries for completion and validation. Only data validated by the reporting countries are disseminated. The number of airports is always disseminated, as it is derived from Eurostat data collected in the frame of a legal basis. The number of small airports might not be fully available, as this variable depends on a country's information provided (smaller airports are not covered by the regulatory data collection).

For data at airport level, the airports covered are the main airports of each country, that is to say airports with at least 150 000 passenger units per year.

The data cover the EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK (until 2018 reference year), North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.

From 2001 onwards. Some tables are no longer updated due to low response rate from the countries (time series end at 2013 reference year).

Not applicable

The units used depend on the elements collected.

For the data collected at national level, the units are: number of airports, number of aircraft, number of enterprises and number of employees.

For the data collected at airport level, the units are: number of runways, number of check-in facilities, number of aircraft gates, number of parking places for private cars, number of connections to other modes of transport, intermodal freight area in square metres and number of employees.

The data transmitted through the questionnaires are annual figures. For the following variables: number of airports, number of aircraft, number of enterprises, number of employees (by gender), number of runways, number of check-in facilities, number of aircraft gates, number of parking places for private cars, number of connections to other modes of transport, intermodal freight area in square metres and number of employees the status is as of 31^st of December.

The questionnaire is not supported by any legal act and it is based on a gentlemen's agreement with the participating countries.

Not applicable

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

No confidential data are provided.

There is not a release calendar for dissemination of data but annual figures related to reference year Y-2 are released in summer each year Y.

Not applicable

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Yearly

Not applicable

Dissemination on the Eurostat's website database:

• Database by themes - Transport/Air transport (avia) - Air transport infrastructure (avia_if)
• Database by themes - Transport/Air transport (avia) - Air transport equipment (avia_eq)
• Database by themes - Transport/Air transport (avia) - Air transport - Enterprises, economic performances and employment (avia_ec)

Please consult free data on-line.

Not applicable

Not applicable

The Glossary on Transport Statistics ed. 5 is the main methodological source for the definitions used in this data collection (see Annex at the bottom of this page).

The latest template of the questionnaire on air transport statistics is available as an attachment (see Annex at the bottom of this page).

The number of airports available in the questionnaires is prefilled/cross-checked with the data available from Regulation (EC) 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 as well as the subsequent implementing Commission Regulations 1358/2003, 546/2005 and 158/2007. Once pre-filled, the questionnaires are completed and validated (as far as possible) by the reporting countries. Only data validated by the reporting countries are made available online (except number of airports and fleet data).

Therefore, the quality of such data is ensured, and is systematically disseminated. In order to obtain the highest level of data quality, the following data sources are used by Eurostat for the pre-filling of the questionnaire:

• Infrastructure: number of airports - Eurostat (list of main and other airports reporting data according to the Regulation 437/2003) + information provided by the reporting countries (small airports)
• Equipment: national fleet - Cirium database
• Individual airpor part - A-Z world airport website (and similar website) enriched with information provided by the reporting countries

Common definitions and harmonized methodology ensures quality of data.

In line with the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System and with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Data quality is acceptable but varies from a country to a country. More information on the data collection and validation procedure under 10.7.

This data collection tries to response partially to user needs of more data about the airports and the air transport industry in the countries.

There is no information about the level of satisfaction of the users with this data dissemination.

Not all reporting countries reports fully to the questionnaire. The most complete part of the data refers normally to airport infrastructure and aircraft fleet.

Overall accuracy of the data provided is good - the data are derived from the recognized sources and are made publically available only after the final validation by the countries (except number of airports and fleet data).

Not applicable

Not applicable

Annual figures related to reference year Y-2 are released in spring each year Y.

The annual questionnaires of year Y are sent in February of year Y+2. The deadline for delivery is fixed normally in May year Y+2. The countries responding to this voluntary questionnaire normally respect the deadline.

Data comparability across countries is high. This is ensured by the implementation of a common methodology and definitions and the relative simplicity of the information requested.

Comparability over the time is high. The present methodological approach has been maintained for several years now.

This voluntary data collection allows complementing the regulatory data collection of air transport statistics providing additional useful data at airport level and on aircraft fleet.

The internal consistency of this data collection can be partially checked when calculating aggregates at country level. The coherence of individual information provided for the airports can be only checked by relating the amount of passengers handled with the data on infrastructure, personnel, etc.

This is a voluntary data collection exercise and no evaluation of the cost/burden has taken place. However, in order to minimise the burden for the respondents, the questionnaires are delivered to them pre-filled with available information obtained from different quality sources.

Revisions of passed data are taken into account and processed when provided by the national competent authorities.

In case of any data revisions, the on-line database is immediately updated with revised figures. Anyway for this data collection revisions are very rare, due to the specific data collection and validation process.

Original data sources are normally the airports organisations or enterprises as well as international organisations of the air transport sector. Fleet data are derived from Cirium database and validated by the countries as far as possible. For details see point 11.2.

Data are collected annually through an Excel questionnaire (template of the questionnaire available as an Annex at the bottom of the page).

The reporting countries are provided by Eurostat with the pre-filled questionnaires. After validation or/and completing, the questionnaire is sent back to Eurostat via e-mail.

Automatic validation during the data integration takes place. A consistency analysis over time takes place after data integration.

No calculations/aggregations are performed on the data available from the questionnaires, which are disseminated as collected.

Not applicable

Not applicable