BERLIN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of passengers at German airports reached a record high in 2017, figures released Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office showed.
The Wiesbaden-based government statisticians counted 117.6 million passengers in spite of the widely-publicized bankruptcy of Germany's second-largest carrier Air Berlin in August, marking an increase of roughly 5 percent.
Since Air Berlin ceased operation entirely in October 2017, rival budget airlines such as Easyjet and Eurowings have expanded their presence in the German market.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the upward trend was driven by a surge in international travel while the number of passengers on domestic flights was largely stagnant.
Spain was by far the most popular destination visited by Germans with 14 million passengers, followed by Britain with 7.3 million and Italy 7 million.
Both Greece and Portugal experienced a significant increase in air traffic from Germany in 2017, 19.2 percent and 16.4 percent respectively. By contrast, the popularity of Turkey among German visitors continued to decline.
The Federal Statistical Office attributed weak demand for connections with Turkey to the country's political instability since the failed military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016 and related diplomatic tensions between Ankara and Berlin.
The official figures also suggest that Germans are developing a growing appetite for long-haul flights, with the number of passengers on such routes rising by 8.4 percent to 21 million. Air traffic with Africa, in particular, experienced a veritable boom in 2017 with 3.2 million passengers, up 35.2 percent, with destinations like Egypt and Morocco being popular.
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