Dublin Airport was the fastest growing airport in Europe last year, that's according to a new report from the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe).

The report showed that last year passenger numbers at Dublin Airport increased by 11.5%.

This was closely followed by Barcelona's El-Prat Airport which increased by 11.2%, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport which increased by 9.2% and Copenhagen Airport which increased by 9.1%.

The report also found that Europe reported the highest air traffic growth in the world last December.

Speaking about the recent figures, Olivier Jankovec Director General of ACI Europe said "Europe’s airports broke the 2 billion passengers mark last year – an absolute record.

"While geopolitics and terrorism in particular played an increasing role in shaping the fortunes & misfortunes of many airports, the underlying story is one of continued growth and expansion – with passenger volumes growing in excess of +5% for the third consecutive year."

"This means that Europe’s airports have welcomed an additional 300 million passengers since 2013, with 80% of it - 240 million - flooding the EU market. Unsurprisingly, that increase is starting to weigh on capacity levels, operations and resources."

He finished by saying "Much of this impressive performance is down to 3 interrelated factors: 1. improving economic conditions driven by private consumption and falling unemployment, 2. low oil prices and 3. airline capacity expansion."

Today's figures from ACI Europe show that overall London Heathrow was the busiest European airport last year as a total of 75.7 million passengers used the airport. 

This was followed by Charles de Gaulle in Paris with 65.9 million passengers, Amsterdam Schiphol with 63.6 million passengers, Frankfurt with 60.7 million passengers and Istanbul's Ataturk with 60 million passengers.