THAILAND. Airports of Thailand, which operates six Thai airports, has reported a sharp -20.2% decrease in total passenger numbers for the month of September, compared to the same period in 2007.
The downturn, which continues a softening since July, is linked to the country’s political unrest, accentuated by the global economic crisis.
The period from January to September 2008 saw growth of +2.8% in total passenger numbers. February registered the largest year-on-year growth of any month, with a +15.0% increase to 5.36 million passengers overall.
The number of international passengers for the nine-month period rose +3.4% to 27.24 million, with September again experiencing the largest decline of -19.4% year-on-year.
Domestic passenger numbers grew by +1.7% to 15.73 million compared to the nine-month period the previous year. The month of September registered the largest drop of -21.5% with 1.25 million passengers.
These numbers are in sharp contrast with 2007 figures, which showed the month of September registering the largest growths in both domestic and total passenger numbers over 2006. September 2007 registered a +14.3% increase in total passengers while domestic passenger numbers grew +22.8%.
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