Passenger traffic achieves strong growth of 4.8% for the month of August

Passenger traffic experienced a slight surge in growth to almost +5% for August compared to previous months over the first and second quarters of 2013. Annualized growth of passenger traffic for the period from September 2012 to August 2013 was registered at +2.9%. International passenger traffic was a leading driver of this growth for August. In particular, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific both experienced double digit gains of +18.6% and +10.2% respectively in international passenger traffic. This is supported by key airport hubs in these regions such as Dubai (DXB) and Jakarta (CGK), which continue to experience robust gains in passenger traffic on a monthly basis. Dubai (DXB) continues to realize its gains in international passenger traffic for August (+23%) by serving as the fulcrum that connects east and west, while Jakarta’s traffic growth (+16%) is largely attributed to its burgeoning domestic market of over 42 million passengers per annum.

Air freight remains relatively sluggish with respect to year-over-year rates for August, with growth being almost flat at -0.2%. On an annualized basis, from September 2012 to August 2013, there was virtually no change in the volume of air freight as compared to the previous period. During this twelve month period, over 50% of the world’s top 20 airports in terms of air freight volume experienced a decrease in traffic. However, the first ranked Hong Kong (HKG) and second ranked Memphis (MEM) still achieved growth of +2.6 and +3.4 % respectively over this time interval.

ACI World’s Economics Director Rafael Echevarne commented, “The above average growth in passenger traffic for the month of August is indicative of the improvement in air transport demand, which is fuelled primarily by international travel. As global economic conditions improve, particularly with respect to the acceleration of GDP growth in Europe and North America, we are likely to see correspondingly stronger growth in passenger traffic towards the end of 2013. The air freight story remains the same. On the whole, North America and Asia-Pacific, which are home to airports that handle a combined 65% of global air freight volumes, have achieved no gains in freight traffic for the twelve month period from September 2012 to August 2013. Nonetheless, as business confidence and international trade realise greater momentum, we are likely to see these regions move into positive territory with regards to annualized year-over-year growth.”

See tables here.