According to the traffic reports released by Airports Council International (ACI), in December 2009 the global airport passenger traffic rose by 5.3 percent when compared with the same month in 2008. Both international passenger traffic (up by 5.6 %) and domestic traffic (up by 5.2 %) were boosted by strong performance across Asia Pacific (+15.7 % international; +14% domestic).
All regions saw increases, except for North America which remained flat.
There are clear signs of renewed passenger traffic demand at many airports worldwide in this month’s results. International traffic grew faster than domestic traffic at most airports in China. Traffic in India, both domestic and international, surged in December (Delhi +32%, Bangalore, +37%, and Mumbai +29%, with Mumbai domestic traffic increasing by 39%). Similarly, traffic growth is on the mend in Russia driven by domestic traffic growth at the Moscow airports ranging from 21 to 40 percent.
ACI World Director of Economics Andreas Schimm says: “Looking at full year 2009, global traffic results were much better than expected early in the year, finishing at just 2.6 percent below 2008. Fears that third quarter traffic would decline substantially did not materialize, and the stabilization seen provided a platform for remarkable fourth quarter growth”. [...] Overall, global figures were boosted by strong domestic traffic in China, India and Brazil where volumes surged in the second half of 2009.
For the full year, traffic results highlight a split between the two largest aviation markets (North America and Europe) each of which lost more than 5 percent traffic in 2009, and the continued expansion of Asia Pacific, Latin America-Caribbean and Middle East markets.
Top performance results in the international category were seen at Dubai (+9.6%), Kuala Lumpur (+8.8%) and Istanbul (+7.3%), the only airports with more than 10 million passengers per annum to register growth in 2009. Airports in Africa suffered a moderate 3.5 percent setback for the year, mainly caused by declines in domestic traffic whereas international shrank only marginally. (source)
(See Airport Passenger Traffic Charts).
Airports Council International (ACI) is a Geneva-based trade group whose members operate more than 1,600 airports worldwide.
