INTERNATIONAL. Global airport passenger traffic climbed by +3.4% year-on-year in 2019, according to preliminary data from Airports Council International (ACI) World. The trend moderated compared to 2018, when passenger traffic grew by +6.4%.
International volumes increased by +4.1% with domestic traffic at +2.8% compared to a year earlier. Within the international figures, Africa (+6.5%) showed the highest rate of growth, followed by Europe (+4.4%), Asia Pacific (+4%) and Middle East (+3.7%).
In December, traffic posted +4.9% growth year-on-year, ahead of the annual trend. ACI World noted: “While the figure marked a positive end to 2019 after a challenging year for the air transport industry, it comes as the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak start to appear in traffic results in 2020.”
“With ongoing trade wars and rising geopolitical tension in the Middle East, the global environment in 2019 was certainly challenging for air transport,” said ACI World Director General Angela Gittens. “The developing situation may not be a momentary shock to the air transport industry; rather it has the potential to produce a significant shift in this year’s global economic growth trend.”
