European airports have reported a sharp increase in passenger number for February as the global economic recovery continues to gather pace.

Overall passenger traffic at European airports increased by 5.3 per cent during the month when compared to the previous year, according to the latest figures from the ACI EUROPE Airport Traffic Report.

The overall freight traffic among European airports also increased 3.4 per cent in February 2011 when compared with the corresponding month in 2010.

The overall figure for movements at European airports increased 3.6 per cent in February 2011 when compared with February 2010.

Growth was most pronounced among smaller, Group 4, airports , which welcome fewer than five million passengers per year.

Passenger traffic at such airport increased six per cent in February 2011.

Airports welcoming more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports welcoming between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports welcoming between five and ten million passengers (Group 3) reported increases of 5.5 per cent, five per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.