EU air passenger numbers down 1.3 percent in October: airports body

Passenger numbers at EU airports fell by 1.3 percent in October compared with a year earlier, marking the first monthly decline in both passenger and freight traffic since 2009, airports body ACI Europe said.

The volume of freight at European airports fell by 2.2 percent in October - the 17th consecutive monthly decline - the body said in its latest airport traffic report on Wednesday.

"With passenger and freight traffic in the EU market recording firmly negative results, there is no escaping the deepening impact of the European sovereign debt crisis on the real economy," ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec said in a statement.

(Reporting by Charlie Dunmore; editing by Rex Merrifield)