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Passenger traffic figures at Europe's major airports climbed by 6.5% in 2007 compared to the previous year, according to new figures.

Medium-sized hubs – which handled between 10m and 25m passengers last year, such as Berlin Templehof and Athens – saw the largest average growth of 7.2% in traffic figures.

Hubs welcoming more than 25m, such as Madrid and Munich, saw a 4.7% annual rise in passenger flow, while those with between 5m and 10m customers, such as Nottingham East Midlands and Valencia, handled 5% more people.

Olivier Jankovec, director general of the Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, which released the figures, said: 'This provides further evidence that European mobility is a continuing success story.

'Although the European market is usually considered a mature one, it consistently outperforms predictions. This underlines the seriousness of the challenge that Europe is facing in addressing the looming airport capacity crunch.'

As the European Union prepares to introduce policy initiatives to deliver a 'single European sky', Mr Jankovec said it was 'high time that an integrated approach on aviation capacity was adopted'.

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