Airport Passenger Traffic rebound continues in June 2010
05.08.2010 (17:04) | Focus on Travel News / Travel News Gazette
Strong 8 percent traffic growth in June is maintaining the positive momentum established in the preceding months.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ACI World reports that firm passenger demand brought strong 8 percent traffic growth in June 2010 compared to June 2009, maintaining the positive momentum established in the preceding months.
International passenger growth contributed strongly with a rise of over 10 percent, and domestic traffic grew by 6 percent.
Overall results are similar to May growth levels, with further acceleration in the Asia-Pacific region - driven notably by international traffic in China, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan.
The June 2009 reference period for month-over-month comparisons was the last month with substantial overall losses before growth resumed in July/ August. North America's domestic market is still lagging behind (less than 1%) due to strict airline capacity and yield management.
Mid-year results
Equally positive results are seen in the six month year-to-date comparisons with overall world passenger traffic increasing by 6 percent, international by almost 7 percent and domestic traffic by 5 percent. Notable growth of more than 20 percent was reported by Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Jakarta, Sao Paulo (GRU), Shanghai Pudong and Moscow Sheremetjevo.
ACI World Director of Economics Andreas Schimm comments on mitigating factors, "The first semester results for 2010 are rated against the background of a dismal first half of 2009. Another analysis factor to keep in mind is that the volcanic ash crisis in April 2010 slowed traffic substantially in Europe and in relevant global markets. It can be assumed, however, that many of the trips cancelled during the airspace closure were eventually rebooked in May and June, particularly for international travel. Europe and North America remain decoupled from the extraordinary recovery path of other regions that were driven by emerging markets and economies."
Diverging recovery pattern
To gain a clearer perspective on 2010 traffic growth, ACI has also compared first semester results 2010 to first semester results in 2008, a period of relative calm prior to the global economic downturn.
For passenger traffic, this comparison highlights significant shifts in world traffic shares. For the first six months of 2008, North America and Europe had larger total traffic volumes than the other regions, but both regions reported approximately 7.5 percent fewer passengers for the same period in 2010. Asia Pacific airport traffic, by contrast, grew by 11.5 percent in comparing total traffic in 2008 and 2010. Middle Eastern airports are a remarkable 19 percent above the 2008 level, with Africa and Latin America-Caribbean just slightly above 2008 first term results. In short, North America and Europe remain well behind their respective 2008 pre-crisis levels whereas the other regions have emerged stronger.
Schimm comments, "Overall, the global industry in the first half was still almost one percent down compared to the pre-crisis period due to the significant declines in the major regions Europe and North America. The impact of the volcanic ash crisis on Europe's declining 2010 results further exacerbated the slow return of European international traffic to pre-crisis levels, but it does not overshadow the structural change in the markets of the air traffic industry. It is the strong growth in the domestic markets in China and Brazil that have shifted the balance."
FREIGHT TRAFFIC
Air freight worldwide continues to grow by over 20 percent for the seventh month in a row. June results show that major international freight hubs Shanghai, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Miami, Incheon and Dubai grew by more than 25 percent compared to 2009.
Again comparing to early 2008, total freight tonnage worldwide in the first six months surpassed tonnage shipped in the first half of 2008, the period before the economic crisis took hold. International freight is the driver of this growth with Asia-Pacific and Middle East, up by 4 percent and 21.5 percent respectively. Asia-Pacific has further extended its lead in market share to 38 percent of global air freight tonnage supported by a strong 13 percent increase in domestic freight traffic.
Declines in the other regions however are still considerable. Europe (-1.6%) has almost reached pre-crisis levels while North America (-4.4%), Latin America/ Caribbean (-4.4%), and Africa (-6%) still have some way to go to overcome the effects of the downturn on air freight. With the exception of Asia-Pacific (+13% domestic), the reductions in domestic air freight demand are still very significant, underscoring the likelihood that the export industry is driving the recovery.
Published by Ozgur Tore
www.ftnnews.com
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