As
a result of contractions in the domestic passenger markets of Europe
and North America, global passenger traffic slowed to almost +3% for
the month of September.
With
weak economic performance
and continued uncertainty threatening the two regions, Europe and
North America saw declines of -3.8% and -1% respectively in domestic
passenger traffic. Major airports in
the two regions such as Madrid (MAD), Dallas (DFW) and Las
Vegas (LAS) saw declines of -9.5%, -3.9% and -3%
respectively. On the other hand, major airports in emerging
markets continue
to counterbalance the slowdown from other regions with sustained
demand for air transport.
Istanbul (IST), Dubai (DXB), Jakarta (CGK) and Beijing (PEK) posted
growth of +19.7%, +12.8%, +6.5% and +4.1% respectively.
While
global freight traffic posted modest year-over-year growth for the
month of September at +1.6%, the results across regions is mixed.
Africa (-4.8%), Europe (-1.5%) and North America (-1.5%) all
experienced declines whereas the Middle East (+6%), Asia-Pacific
(+5.3%) and Latin America-Caribbean (+4.4%) achieved more robust
growth figures. Of the thirty leading global freight airports in
terms of traffic weighting,
thirteen of them observed year-over year declines. Albeit, the top
three global freight hubs of Hong
Kong (HKG), Shanghai (PVG) and Memphis (MEM) all
posted positive growth of +6.8%, +2.2% and +1.9% respectively.
ACI
World’s Economics Director
Rafael Echevarne commented, “On the whole, when we look at the last
three quarters of 2012, passenger markets have remained relatively
healthy despite the on-going risks and slowdown in theglobal
economy.
From January to September, overall year-over-year growth for the
period was a reassuring +4.5%. Conversely, freight traffic continues
to give a mixed picture from month to month. With an overall
deterioration in international trade in
2012, it no surprise to see freight traffic in a sluggish state
declining by -0.7% for the same period.”
