The number of European people choosing to fly abroad went up last year, new figures have revealed.
Data from EU statistics agency Eurostat revealed that during 2006, a total of 738 million people went overseas on an aircraft.
The majority of member states saw an increase in the number of air passenger numbers, with eastern Europe seeing particularly strong growth.
This suggests that the region is rapidly growing in popularity as a holiday and property investment destination, particularly since some countries' accession into the EU.
The overall number of air passengers for the year was up on 2005 by 4.7 per cent, Eurostat said.
Almost half were found to have remained in Europe, although one in three did take flights to other continents, while one in five travelled on domestic services.
According to Ryanair, flights to eastern European countries such as Bulgaria (property in Bulgaria is in demand) are in particularly high demand.
The budget airline recently announced that high levels of interest in its London to Sofia service have prompted it to operate the route daily.