Passenger traffic continues on upward trajectory at 5% growth year over year in August

All regions posted strong year-over-year gains in passenger traffic in August 2012 although a major source of the sustained expansion in passenger traffic continues to be primarily from emerging markets. Major Asian airports such as Jakarta (CGK), Bangkok (BKK) and Singapore (SIN) each experienced double digit gains of +25.7%, +11.4%, +10.9% respectively. Moving westward, the airports of Dubai (DXB) and Istanbul (IST) also posted remarkable growth over +20% for the month of August. With the on-going uncertainty and fiscal challenges that hang over European and North American economies, the overall global freight markets remain sluggish as total freight was almost flat at +0.6% in August 2011. Although modest gains in freight traffic were observed in certain regions, Europe experienced a decline of -1.2% in traffic. The major freight hubs of Paris (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS) and Frankfurt (FRA) experienced declines of -10.2%, -4.1% and -4,0% respectively. Asia-Pacific also recorded weak performance in freight traffic with a year over growth of +0.4%.

ACI World’s Economics Director Rafael Echevarne commented, “On the whole, growth in passenger traffic has remained relatively consistent from month to month with overall growth rates in the realm of +4% over the last twelve months. Thus, air transport has been immune to the downside risks that have persisted in the global economy throughout 2011 and 2012. However, even with strong demand in emerging markets fuelling this growth, this phenomenon is not indefinite. Global air freight, on the other hand, is in a standstill with respect to growth in freight volumes from 2011. The evident contraction in European traffic is contributing to the overall lacklustre performance in air freight.”