ASIA PACIFIC/MIDDLE EAST. Passenger traffic across Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern airports grew +8.7% and +0.7% respectively in December 2017, according to Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific.
In China, robust domestic passenger demand boosted growth to +11% year-on-year in December, the third highest level in 2017 behind January and November. Six of the top ten volume driver airports in the Asia Pacific came from China, led by: Guangzhou (+10%), Tianjin (+37.1%) and Shanghai Pudong (+8.8%).
Passenger traffic in India rose +15% during the month, largely driven by domestic demand. ACI Asia-Pacific said the top airports in the country all reported solid results: Delhi (+15.3%), Mumbai (+7.2%) and Bangalore (+16.1%).
Looking at international traffic volumes, the association said vacation travels stimulated strong growth in a number of airports in December. Seoul Incheon saw the biggest increase at +10.5%, followed by Bangkok (+9.3%) and Kuala Lumpur (+5.2%).
In the Middle East, passenger traffic continued to show mixed results. Dubai grew by +1.9% while Doha, which decreased -16.9%, continued to be negatively impacted by Qatar’s diplomatic crisis with a number of neighbouring states. ACI Asia-Pacific noted that bright spots included Kuwait (+17.1%) and Muscat (+14.8%).
In 2017, passenger traffic in Asia Pacific and the Middle East grew +7.8% and +4.7% respectively.
“Overall passenger traffic growth in the Asia Pacific maintained a strong momentum throughout the year while the pace of growth eased in the Middle East,” said ACI Asia-Pacific.
“Looking ahead, considering the aggressive expansion of low-cost carriers in the region, and a number of festive holiday periods in the first quarter of 2018, passenger traffic is expected to remain solid going into the new year.”
