Middle East unrest slows passenger growth at Aéroports de Paris

FRANCE. Sharp falls in North Africa and Middle East traffic due to political unrest slowed passenger growth at Aéroports de Paris airports in May.

The Parisian airport operator posted a +2.6% year-on-year rise in passenger numbers for the month to 7.7 million passengers.

This included 5.3 million at Charles de Gaulle Airport (+1.8%) and 2.4 million at Orly (+4.4%).

International traffic (excluding Europe) was affected by geo-political unrest in some parts of Africa and the Middle East, decreasing by -3.0%. On African and Middle Eastern routes traffic fell by -13.3% and -14.4% respectively.

All other destinations improved: Asia Pacific +8%, French Overseas Departments and Territories +6.1%, South America +4.6% and North America +3.1%.

European traffic (excluding France) was up +6.6%, driven by Schengen countries (+6.2%). The UK and Ireland grew by +7.1%.

Traffic within France increased by +4.4%.The number of connecting passengers rose by +8.8%. The connecting passenger rate was 23.0% against 22.1% in May 2010.

For the first five months of 2011 passenger traffic increased by +8.0% year-on-year. The number of connecting passengers grew by +7.5%. The connecting rate came in at 23.6% against 23.8% over the first five months of 2010.

Aéroports de Paris builds, develops and manages airports including Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly and Paris Le Bourget. With 83.4 million passengers handled in 2010, Aéroports de Paris is Europe’s second-largest airport group in terms of passenger traffic.