Passenger growth in Asia-Pacific at 7% and Middle East at 10% in April 2016

30 Jun 2016 2127 | World Travel News

HONG KONG - Asia-Pacific and Middle East delivered strong passenger traffic growth in April 2016, at +7.3% and +9.7% respectively.

Passenger traffic growth in April while still quite sturdy in both regions; appeared to have moderated after a strong first quarter, with year-to-date and rolling 12-month results both lower than the year before. Among the larger hubs in Asia-Pacific and Middle East, majority recorded positive gains and the top runners were Delhi (DEL) +20.8%, Tokyo Haneda (HND) +9.7% and Singapore (SIN) +9.2%.

Elsewhere in the region, a few airports managed to generate substantial increase for the month: Nanjing (NKG) +28.5%, Phuket (HKT) +21.7%, Bangalore (BLR) +21.5%.

Air freight volumes were largely stagnant in April 2016 for the Asia-Pacific posting marginal increase at +1.3% whereas growth in the Middle East remained solid at +4.9%.

The top 3 airfreight hubs in Asia-Pacific all reported mild increase from last year: Hong Kong (HKG) +1.2%, Shanghai (PVG) +0.6%, Incheon (ICN) +1.2%. Among Asia-Pacific airports, Singapore (SIN) generated the highest growth at +7.2%.

The picture in the Middle East was mixed, while Dubai (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) maintained the momentum and delivered solid growth at +4.8% and +2.6% respectively, Doha (DOH) continued to expand at a fast pace at +19%.

TABLE 1: Airports reporting the highest traffic volume in April 2016 (with respective growth rate from last year) according to preliminary traffic data.

Top 3 airports by size¹
Passenger				Freight
> 40M	25M to 40M	15M to 25M	5M to 15M
Beijing (PEK) +2.9%	Manila (MNL) +7.7%	Seoul Gimpo (GMP) +3.3%	Phuket (HKT) +21.7%	Hong Kong (HKG) +1.2%
Dubai (DXB) +7.2%	Kunming (KMG) +7.7%	Kansai (KIX) +11.0%	Busan (PUS) +12.0%	Shanghai Pudong (PVG) +0.6%
Tokyo Haneda (HND) +9.7%	Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) -0.7%	Abu Dhabi (AUH) +4.8%	Osaka Itami (ITM) +1.8%	Incheon (ICN) +1.2%

¹ ACI preliminary passenger and freight statistics are based on a significant sample of airports that provide regular monthly reports to ACI. They represent approximately 60% of total passenger traffic and 70% of total freight traffic worldwide. Commentary, tables and charts are based on preliminary data submitted by participating airports and are therefore subject to change.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia