Despite terrorist attacks, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty in 2016, Airports Council International announced that global passenger traffic grew 7.3% in December 2016 and 5.5% for the year as a whole.
The fact that Christmas and the Gregorian New Year holidays fell on the weekend partly accounted for the boost in traffic for the month of December. International passenger traffic grew faster than the domestic component in 2016 (6.5% versus 4.9%). All regions except Africa posted growth in passenger volumes for the year, ranging from 2.2% in the recessionary Latin America-Caribbean region to over 9.0% in the buoyant Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. African passenger traffic dropped by 1.9%. The mature markets of Europe and North America grew 5.0% and 3.9% respectively for 2016 and continued to be well above the regions' historical growth levels.
Air freight traffic
Air freight markets experienced a revival in the second half of 2016. Volumes increased 3.5% for the year as a whole with a dramatic jump of 8.9% for the month of December brought on by an increase in volumes at airports in the Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. In fact air freight volumes in each of these regions increased over 10.0% for the month of December. Despite the long-term uncertainty regarding trade policies, heightened business confidence through inventory build-ups and increased export orders remained apparent in the near term.
