Newstrack

CAPA: Worldwide traffic growth accelerating

EAW Staff - Mumbai

Airports worldwide have reported "excellent" results for Jul-07 passenger traffic, according to Airports Council International (ACI), with total traffic rising 6.4 per cent year-on-year. Total traffic growth in the seven months to Jul-07 reached 5.3 per cent.

International traffic worldwide increased an even higher 7.3 per cent in Jul-07, with accelerated growth across all regions, spearheaded by the Middle East (+21.6 per cent), Africa (+15.5 per cent) and Latin America (+8.8 per cent). International passenger traffic growth in the Jan-07 to Jul-07 period was 6.6 per cent year-on-year.

Domestic passenger traffic results were buoyed by solid growth in the Asia Pacific, European and North American regions, according to ACI.

Encouragingly, freight traffic also grew very robustly in Jul-07, with international freight "picking up briskly", rising 5.9 per cent year-on-year, according to the industry body. Domestic freight growth also remains strong (+4.6 per cent), and worldwide results are comparable to the 5 per cent increase of the previous month.

The acceleration in freight traffic growth is supported by latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The airline body reports total international freight traffic (FTKs) in Jul-07 rose 5.5 per cent year-on-year, led by the Middle East (+11.1 per cent) and Asia Pacific (+8.2 per cent) regions. Year-to-date FTK growth was 3.8 per cent, indicating the freight market is recovering well after a sluggish start to the year.

According to IATA, business traffic is growing faster than economy traffic on long-haul routes, while average passenger load factors hit a record 81 per cent in Jul-07, up 0.3 per cent from the previous high in Jul-06.

But IATA director general and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, warned that if volatility in global stock markets begins to affect the wider economy, the spin-off effect "could put a drag on demand", which has implications for the global airport sector. Bisignani is also urging airlines to maintain a prudent approach to adding new capacity, which is tipped to surge, particularly in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, over the next 18 months.