SWITZERLAND. Preliminary 2002 results from over 760 airports worldwide from Airports Council International (ACI) show passenger traffic virtually unchanged last year, and aircraft movements down -2% over 2001. In December 2002, passenger traffic was up +12% and movements +4% over December 2001. For the full year total passengers recorded worldwide by ACI were 3,235 million, down -0.4%. Of the total North America accounted for 1,318.1 million, Europe 990.3 million, Asia Pacific 604.7 million, Latin America/Caribbean 168.3 million, Middle East 70.3 million and Africa 83.3 million.
But passenger volumes for the full-year 2002 ended on a positive note in Asia Pacific which posted a +5.6% rise, the Middle East (+5.1%) and Africa (+1.5%). Passenger volumes were flat in Europe (-0.5%), and down in North America by -2.7% and Latin America/Caribbean by -4.9%. ACI said its monthly data shows that Asia Pacific and the Middle East, suffered only two and three months in negative territory, and came out of the slump earlier than other regions.
In 2002, Atlanta continued to be the world’s busiest airport with 76.9 million passengers handled. Chicago O’Hare came in second with 66.5 million, followed by London Heathrow with 63.3 million, Tokyo Haneda with 61.1 million and Los Angeles with 56.2 million. Of the world’s top 30 airports Tokyo Narita (+14%) and Beijing (+12%) registered the highest growth rates.
ACI said some airports data received for the period December 2002 to February 2003 data allowed for optimism. But following the breakout of war in Iraq and the risk of further international spread of the SARS illness, the much-awaited recovery will be stalled until stability returns.
