Luxembourg airport welcomed its three millionth passenger of the year on 29 December (see video here) and went on to record 3.02 million passengers for the whole of 2016. That is an increase of 12.4% compared to 2015 when 2.69 million passengers used the airport. In just three years the airport has grown from two million to three million passengers.

A statement by lux-Airport, which manages the terminal, said the result “surpassed by far expectations”. Indeed, the company had budgeted for 2.85 million passengers last year. The company says the main reason for the significant increase in passenger numbers has been the arrival of five new airlines-- Hop! Air France, LOT Polish Airlines, Aegean Airlines, Flybe and Ryanair.

But existing airlines have also experienced very fast growth in passenger numbers. Luxair remains by far the largest airline to use the airport at 1.73 million passengers, which represents 57% market share. The national carrier added two new Q400 planes to its fleet in 2016, fully replacing smaller aircraft.

Lufthansa climbed to second place in with a growth rate of 202% to reach a total of 287,000 passengers in 2016. The growth can be put down to an increase in the number of flights out of Luxembourg, with four daily each to Frankfurt and Munich. EasyJet cemented its place as the third most important airline with 244,000 passengers, which is an increase of 23% over 2015. KLM also grew 11.9% to 164,00 passengers.