Air transport has become widely accessible to millions of citizens. Over 750 million passengers travelled by air in the European Union last year. Aviation is also the fastest-growing transport mode, increasing at an annual rate of 5 per cent per year, and over 30 per cent in some of the new EU member states.
Dr Daniel Höltgen has been head of communications at the European Aviation Safety Agency in Cologne since 2004. He previously worked as head of public relations in the German federal transport ministry in Berlin and as spokesperson for the federal interior ministry. He holds a Ph.D. in economic geography from the University of Cambridge and is a trained journlaist.