Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world's airports, announced that after the slowing down of growth in August, global airport passenger traffic increased 6.3% in September 2016. International passenger traffic grew faster than the domestic segment for the same period (+6.9% versus +5.9% respectively). Total passenger traffic grew 5.6% for the first nine months of 2016 as compared to the previous year.
Fuelled by lower fares and strong international traffic, all regions experienced increases in passenger traffic in September, with the sole exception of the African region. The highest growth rates were observed in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific (+11.9% and +9.8% respectively), followed by North America, Europe and Latin America-Caribbean (+5.6%, +4.9% and +2.6% respectively). On the other hand, Africa reported a drop in traffic of 0.9%. International passenger traffic continued to grow at high rates in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions (+12.0% and 11.3% respectively). Both Latin America-Caribbean (+7.7%) and North America (7.5%) showed strong growth in international traffic for the month. Europe grew 4.9% for the same period and only Africa lagged behind with a 1.0% loss in international passenger traffic.
Africa
Passenger traffic losses in Africa continued to persist due to the economic weakness in Northern States and major oil exporters. Egypt and Nigeria experienced declines in total passenger traffic of 20.6% and 17.3% respectively in September, the result of security concerns in the major tourist markets and the economic downturn of the region. Passenger traffic gains in South Africa (+5.7%), Morocco (+5.3%) and Tunisia (+46.9%) were not enough to offset the region's passenger traffic losses.
Asia-Pacific
In Asia-Pacific, almost all major aviation markets demonstrated robust growth in passenger traffic. China, India, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia grew 9.2%, 20.7%, 15.2%, 15.1% and 13.3% respectively. The other major players in the region—Japan, Australia and Indonesia—also demonstrated growth of 3.0%, 5.5% and 6.5% respectively. At the airport level, the highest growth was observed at Delhi (DEL, +24.1% or +890,000 passengers), Seoul-Incheon (ICN, +20% or +790,000 passengers) and Beijing (PEK, +8.5% or + 637,000 passengers). Significant growth was also observed at Kuala Lumpur (KUL, +15.4% or +591,000 passengers), Guangzhou (CAN, +11.6% or +519,000 passengers) and Shanghai-Pudong (PVG, +9.8% or +495,000 passengers).
Europe
In Europe, Spain (+10.4%) approached the passenger traffic level of the key aviation market of the region— the United Kingdom—which grew 5.9% during the same month. Major commercial airports in Germany, Italy and France grew 5.2%, 3.8% and 1.6% respectively. Turkey lost 10.0% of its passenger traffic while the Russian Federation observed a flat growth (+0.6%). At the airport level, significant growth was observed at Amsterdam (AMS, +7.4% or +407,000 passengers), Barcelona (BCN, +9.8% or +387,000 passengers) and Berlin-Schönefeld (SXF, +44.4% or +348,000 passengers). Antalya (AYT, -33.1%) in Turkey lost more than 1,212,000 passengers for the same period due to security concerns.
Latin America-Caribbean
Brazil—the largest aviation market in Latin America and the Caribbean—lost 7.6% of its traffic on a year-over-year basis, which testified to the sharp contraction of the national economy. Mexico (+14.3%) and Colombia (+5.1%) remained the two strong and stable sources of passenger traffic growth in the region. Substantial growth was also observed in Chile (+11.2%), Peru (+8.0%) and Panama (+17.3%). At the individual airport level, the highest growth was observed at Mexico City (MEX, +10% or +300,000 passengers), Panama City (PTY, +17.3% or + 176,000 passengers) and Santiago (SCL, +11.7% or +161,000 passengers).
Middle East
In the Middle East, all major aviation markets demonstrated robust growth. Passenger traffic in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar grew 9.7% and 22.6% respectively. Dubai (DXB) kept momentum and the status of the fastest-growing airport in absolute terms in the region (+10.3% or +662,000 passengers), followed closely by Doha (DOH, +22.6% or +608,000 passengers).
North America
The two aviation markets of North America—the United States and Canada—grew 5.3% and 8.8% respectively in terms of total passenger traffic. Notable growth was observed at Denver (DEN, +12.8% or +579,000 passengers), Los Angeles (LAX, +9.6% or +576,000 passengers) and Toronto-Pearson (YYZ, +12.4% or +431,000). Philadelphia (PHL) lost 4.7% of its traffic (-123,000 passengers) as compared to the previous year.
