ASIA PACIFIC/MIDDLE EAST. Passenger traffic across Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern airports grew +10.6% and +3.5% respectively in November 2017, according to Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific.
In China, robust domestic and international travel boosted growth to +12% year-on-year in November, the second-highest level in 2017 behind January.
From August, international passenger traffic growth accelerated in China. Domestic passenger growth also strengthened. The top three volume drivers were: Guangzhou Baiyun International (+11.6%), Beijing Capital International (+7.5%) and Tianjin Binhai International airports (+36.2%).
The Indian market continued to be sustained by strong domestic demand with year-on-year growth at +14% in November. Both domestic and international passenger travels have been steadily trending upward since July 2017.
The top three airports in the country all posted double-digit growth in November: Delhi Indira Gandhi International (+11.8%), Chhatrapati Shivaji International (+12.1%) in Mumbai and Bangalore Kempegowda International airports (+12.4%).
Thailand also saw strong traffic growth across several airports, benefiting from a significant increase in international tourists, according to ACI Asia-Pacific. Bangkok Suvarnabhumi saw a +16.6% rise, Bangkok Don Mueang a +15.9% increase and traffic at Phuket International surged +18.6%.
In the Middle East, passenger traffic continued to show mixed results in November. Dubai International reported a +5.7% rise in traffic. Doha Hamad International Airport traffic plummeted -18.8%, a negative impact of Qatar’s diplomatic crisis with a number of neighbouring states.
Kuwait and Muscat airports both reported strong growth of +25.6% and +17.2% respectively.
