More people flew in and out of Geneva airport in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009, airport officials said on Tuesday.

Despite severely disrupted service following the Iceland volcano explosion in April, Geneva airport recorded more than 5.65 million passengers for the first six months of the year — 4.43 per cent more than the first half of 2009.

“We are surpassing our 2010 goals for growth,” airport spokesman Bertrand Stämpfli told the Geneva-based Le Temps newspaper, adding airport officials had hoped for two per cent growth.

The introduction of two more transatlantic flights in 2009 as well as new European connections in 2010 contributed to the increase. That means 12 million people could pass through the airport, Switzerland’s second busiest, by the end of the year.

Zurich airport remains Switzerland’s most popular with 10.5 million passengers using it during the first half of the year. That is up three per cent against figures from last year, when 21.9 million people flew in and out of Switzerland’s biggest city.

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