Global airport passenger traffic growth slows in January on Chinese New Year timing

INTERNATIONAL. Global passenger traffic was up +4.9% year-on-year in January, according to preliminary figures from Airports Council International (ACI).

The organisation noted that growth appears to have slowed following a robust year-end, but said the timing of Lunar New Year should be taken into account (the festive period took place in February this year instead of January in 2017).

“Higher passenger traffic was expected during this holiday, considered the world’s greatest annual migration of people, so year-on-year figures for February are expected to show a significant increase as a result,” ACI said.

Source: Airports Council International
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Passenger traffic growth was more moderate in January for most regions following a robust +6.4% increase in 2017. International passenger traffic was the major driver for global traffic increases in 2017, and closed the gap with domestic traffic in January. The two market segments grew at +5.8% and +4.3% respectively.

Europe posted +7.6% growth in January – the largest of all regions. The “regained momentum” drove its rolling 12-month figures to +8.6%, after more modest growth of +5.2% in December. Domestic traffic was up +8.7% in January.

ACI said most of Europe’s mature markets grew at a moderate pace of between +1.5% (the UK) and +5.9% (Italy).

Turkey, still recovering from a major downturn in air traffic, grew at +28.1%, followed by the Russian Federation, at +12.2. The air transport sectors are in full recovery in these markets following a weakened state in 2017, ACI said.

Traffic growth slowed slightly in both Asia Pacific (+4.4%) and North America (+3.2%) in January, but both regions are still “robust”. ACI said it expected Asia Pacific’s figures to rebound significantly in February as a result of Chinese New Year. India was a significant outlier in the region’s major markets in January, posting an increase of +15.3% for the month.

Source: Airports Council International
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Africa saw passenger traffic increase +11.4%. The region has benefitted from consistently high growth in traffic since recovering from a difficult macroeconomic context in April 2017, according to ACI. The region’s growth was largely driven by Egypt (+21.7%), Morocco (+16.6%) and Nigeria (+13.1%).

Traffic in the Middle East fell -0.4% in January. ACI commented: “With geopolitical unrest affecting a number of countries in the region, and the blockade of Qatar still upheld, slower growth is likely to continue in the mid-term.” The organisation noted that the region’s rolling 12-month figures were still relatively robust, at +3.9%.

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