European airports enjoy solid recovery in 2010 – Italy performs well

European airports had a reasonably positive year in 2010, generating a 4.2% increase in passenger throughput, despite bouts of extreme weather, labour unrest, passenger taxation in some markets and lingering economic problems in many parts of the continent. Freight traffic recovered by 18.7% last year (off depressed levels in 2009), while aircraft movements were flat (dropping 0.2%).