INTERNATIONAL. Worldwide airport passenger traffic posted a +1.6% rise year-on-year in September, Airports Council International (ACI) has reported.
Domestic passenger traffic, led by robust growth in China, India and Brazil, increased by +4.4% in the month, while international traffic remained down, by -1.1% on September 2008.
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ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said: “The downward trend began to ease in the second quarter and now in the fourth quarter we are seeing growth. We are not just seeing less worse results, but some clear signs of new growth in selected domestic markets.
“This contributes to the positive global results despite international traffic coming in below results in 2008. Of course, we are comparing the latest results to September 2008 when traffic was already dropping due to economic conditions. Nonetheless the flattening of the trend curve is a good sign. It may signal a sustained trend, since domestic traffic is often a precursor to international traffic recovery.”
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The Asia Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean regions dominated the September traffic results with increases in domestic traffic of +12.5% and +16.2% respectively. A number of major and emerging economies expanded or returned to GDP growth in the third quarter, which is driving the improved results, said ACI. Economic stimulus programmes, stiff domestic competition and low fares are contributing to the strong results in Brazil and China. North America, Europe and Africa remained virtually flat in terms of domestic traffic change.
Gittens said: “Industry data illustrates that over the past 30 years airport traffic recovered relatively quickly from the impact of economic cycles and extraordinary events. In a prolonged economic downturn, the rebound may be less immediate, and our forecast for 2010 anticipates a conservative +2.5% growth for next year, with the domestic markets taking the lead.”
European passenger traffic lagged behind other markets for international traffic in September, posting a -4.6% decline year-on-year. Asia Pacific grew by +6.1% and the Middle East continued its strong momentum with a +14.3% increase.
For the year to date total passenger traffic is still -4.3% down on the first nine months of 2008, with international traffic down -5.8% and domestic by -2.9%.
The only region to have posted year-on-year growth in international traffic over the first nine months was the Middle East (+6.5%).
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