Passenger traffic grew 10.6% among ACI Asia-Pacific airports

JULY 17, 2015: Passenger traffic exhibited strong growth in May 2015; with Asia-Pacific and Middle East airports both reported double digit gains year over year at +10.6 percent and +10.9 percent respectively.

Despite slowdown in regional trade activities, passenger growth was supported by robust international traffic. A number of the major airports recorded year-on-year growth in excess of 20 percent: Dubai (DXB) +23.2 percent, Shanghai (PVG) +22 percent, and Bangkok (BKK) 22.8 percent. Bangkok Don Muang (DMK) continued to deliver the highest growth among major airports at +49.6 percent.

In contrast, air freight in both regions continued to be impacted by weak economic growth in Europe and slowdown across Asian export markets. Asia-Pacific recorded marginal increase of +1.6 percent while the Middle East grew +4.4 percent from last year. Among major cargo airports in the region, New Delhi (DEL) led Asia-Pacific with the highest growth rate at +16 percent whereas Doha (DOH) led the Middle East at +14.7 percent for the month.

The month of May showed diverging results for passenger and freight traffic in both Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. While passenger traffic remained resilient, the slowdown in trade activities and air freight traffic may put downward pressures on business travels in the coming months.