Routes and Airports Channel

September airport traffic rose 1.6%

By Perry Flint
ATW's Airports Today, November, 2009, p.2

World airport traffic rose 1.6% to 261.95 million arriving and departing passengers in September compared to September 2008, according Airport Council International's PaxFlash traffic report. Domestic airport traffic climbed 4.4% to 136.69 million while international passengers dipped 1.1% to 123.31 million.

ACI DG Angela Gittens said "We are not just seeing 'less worse' results, but some clear signs of new growth in selected domestic markets," adding, "Of course we are comparing the latest results to September 2008 when traffic was already dropping. . .Nonetheless, the flattening of the trend curve is a good sign."

ACI said domestic traffic growth in China, Brazil and India is "leading the global upswing." Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean region airports experienced domestic traffic growth of 12.5% and 16.2% respectively in September compared to the year-ago month. European airports posted a 1.3% decline while North American airports had a 0.5% increase. African airport traffic slipped 0.5% and results for domestic airport traffic in the Middle East were not available.

International traffic remains depressed with the exception of the Middle East, where it rose 14.3% versus September 2008, and the Asia/Pacific, up 6.1%. European airports saw a 4.6% decline in international throughput while North American airports dropped 2.6% and Latin America/Caribbean airports dipped 1.3%. African international airport traffic was flat year-to-year.

Total freight traffic at airports was down 2.9% in September, with international freight off 5.8% and domestic freight up 3.7%.

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