text: Spain remains Britons' favourite destination to fly to, as it has been for more than 25 years, with its more than 34 million journeys in 2014 over double that of the next most popular, the United States. New figures from the UK Civil Aviation Authority shows 238m passengers passed through British airports in 2014, just three million less than the pre-recession boom peak of 241m in 2007 and 10m more (a 4.4 per cent rise) than 2013. As would be expected, most passengers (144m) fly to Europe which enjoyed a 5.4 per cent rise year on year in visitors from the UK. Perhaps surprisingly though, Germany proved a more visited destination even than France and Italy, which were all ranked behind Spain and the US and ahead of Ireland and the Netherlands. The United Arab Emirates also ranks in the top 10 countries British flyers most travel to and enjoyed the largest passenger increase in the past year with a 430,000 boost (7.4 per cent) to 6.2m. The UAE  ranked ahead of Portugal and Switzerland, who round out the top 10, and Turkey in 11th. While only the 12 most visited country by plane, Greece is the biggest improver over the past year with its 5.6 million incoming passengers from Britain a 13.2 per cent increase. While topping numerous polls as UK travellers' dream destination, Australia suffered the biggest drop in UK arrivals losing a third of visitors from 744,000 to 488,000. In Europe, the country with the largest fall in passengers was Poland with a minute drop of 0.1m to 5.2m. There has been a rise of 2.3 per cent in passengers flying to and from North America from the UK, which has now reached 21m per year. Travellers to and from other international destinations has now increased 3.7 per cent to 33.6m. Domestic flights rose for the second consecutive year to 21m, a 2.4 per cent increase on 2013, but this is still well below 2005's 25m. 1) Spain . 2) USA . 3) Germany . 4) Italy . 5) France . 6) Irish Republic . 7) Netherlands . 8) UAE . 9) Portugal . 10) Switzerland . 34,265,349 . 17,869,603 . 12,485,818 . 11,920,740 . 10,664,689 . 10,435,227 . 8,749,231 . 6,223,650 . 6,103,192 . 6,099,107 . 11) Turkey . 12) Greece . 13) Poland . 14) Canada . 15) Denmark . 16) Norway . 17) India . 18) Sweden . 19) Cyprus . 20) Egypt . 5,734,943 . 5,608,616 . 5,206,380 . 3,163,422 . 2,977,668 . 2,749,001 . 2,739,969 . 2,598,069 . 2,292,287 . 1,991,374 . There were a total of 2.1m landings and take-offs (air transport movements) of commercial flights in 2014, an increase of 1.1 per cent on 2013. While every London airport increased its passenger traffic in 2014, some regional areas suffered. Heathrow (a total of 73.4m up 1.4 per cent up on 2013), Gatwick (38.1m up 7.5 per cent), Luton (10.5m up 8.1 per cent) and London City (3.6m up 7.9 per cent). The biggest improvers were Southend with a 13.6 rise to 1.1m and Stansted with an increase of 11.7 per cent to 19.9m. Charter flights were another market to fall in 2014 with a 6 per cent (1.2m) fall from 2013 to 18.5m, in contrast to the scheduled flights increase of 4.2 per cent. 'Our latest passenger figures show that demand for air travel continues at a pace and is now just shy of the pre-recession peak reached in 2007,' CAA spokesperson Henry Killworth said. 'This is fantastic news for the UK's strong aviation industry and with the economy likely to grow further in 2015, we can expect even more passengers flying abroad this year. 'Our figures also show the UK's love affair with Spain continues unabated and remains the UK's favourite destination, which it has been every year since records began.' Girls take sefies in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate in Germany, which is  more popular than Italy or France .
target: Spain has been the most popular destination for Britons for over 25 years .
  Germany boasts more visitors from the UK than even France and Italy .
  238m passengers passed through British airports in 2014, 10m up on 2013 .