During the last quarter of 2009, passenger traffic grew by 3.5% and cargo by 9.5%, according to Airports Council International’s Q4 2009 Quarterly Traffic Bulletin. However, movements continued to decline by 1.7%, which shows capacity is slow to return to the market. This brings the annual figures to a decrease of 2.7% in passenger traffic, 8.2% in cargo and 5.5% in aircraft movements – decreases that were better than expected.
Regional differences and traffic shifts were significant, the report says. For 60% of the global traffic, mostly in North America and Europe, fourth-quarter traffic remained flat. In regards to freight, all regions except Africa reported growth, with Asia-Pacific and the Middle East in the lead.
On aircraft movements, Europe and North America remained down, far below passenger growth; The Asia-Pacific, Latin America-Caribbean and Middle East regions, though, showed increases to cope with the strong increase in passenger volumes. However, movement increases were below the increases in passengers and freight indicated higher load factors.
The top-performing airports in the fourth quarter are almost all located in Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean.
