World airport passenger traffic grow by 4.9%

World airport passenger traffic posted a fourth consecutive year of growth in 2006, reaching a total of 4.4 billion passengers, 4.9% higher than in 2005. "The growth rate is slightly slowing down compared to 2005-04 and 2004-03 when global airport passenger traffic recorded increases of 6.2% and 10.5% respectively," says Laurent Delarue, senior manager at Arthur D. Little, which conducted a comprehensive analysis of world airport traffic and is presenting it in cooperation with ATW.
Annual passenger growth differed from region to region, with Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS posting the highest gain of 11.2%. Asian airports came in second with a lofty growth rate of 9.7%. Growth in the Middle East was still at top level with plus 9.1%, while Western European airports' traffic rose 6.1% as the group benefited from several major events including the Winter Olympic Games in Italy and the FIFA World Cup in Germany. European and Asian airports accounted for 75% of the global growth. Oceania, defined as Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, posted a below-average growth of 4.1%. The only geographical area really lagging behind was North America with only a 0.7-point increase compared to 2005.As a matter of fact, most of the fastest-growing Intercontinental Hubs and biggest contributors to traffic growth are located in Asia.
Airport traffic in ACI's ASP area grew 8.9%. India and China accounted for 55% of the traffic volume increase in this region and about a quarter of the world's growth in passenger numbers; New Zealand experienced a traffic loss. "Without China and India, traffic growth in the region would be even lower than in Europe," remarks ADL Manager Mathieu Blondel, who notes that data for both countries do not include small and medium-sized airports. "Actual growth is probably even higher than reported growth."
"Both in India and in China the growth in domestic traffic has been the main driver of passenger air traffic since 2004, contributing to over 85% of the added capacity," Blondel confirms.
In contrast to China, India's national carriers Air India and Indian Airlines had a minimal impact on passenger growth at the country's main airports. The privately held LCCs, such as Air Sahara (now called Jet Lite following its acquisition by Jet Airways), Air Deccan, SpiceJet and Kingfisher, represented 90% of the increase in seat capacity on offer between 2004 and 2007. Not surprisingly, six of the 10 fastest-developing regional airports in the Asia/Pacific region last year were in India. Hyderabad, which will be replaced by a new airport next year, boosted passenger throughput 50% in 2006 and is the region's fastest-growing Regional Platform.
Asian countries benefited from more traffic rights, India was boosted by deregulation of the domestic market and China authorized private airlines to take off. The effect of LCCs on Asian airports is weaker than in Europe and less discriminating, as LCCs tend to serve most of the airports. The Asian Regional Platforms that host based LCCs grew 9.8% whereas the ones without grew 9.2%. Continental Hubs in Asia/Oceania grew by 6.5%, reflecting 7% growth for the Asia group and 4.4% for Oceania hubs.
22/09/07 Air Transport World/ATWOnline, US

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Sep 2007, General Aviation Sep 2007