Robust 6.9% growth in passenger traffic, air freight growth dips to 1.3% during May

Montréal, 13 July 2015 – For the month of May, passenger traffic continued the pattern of strong and stable growth seen over the past 12 months. Total passenger traffic increased by 6.9% as compared to the previous year, while international passenger traffic outpaced domestic traffic at 7.3% versus 6.7%, respectively.

May is known as a shoulder-season month, and such strong growth in international traffic brings good news and a positive outlook for the peak months of summer. While all regions reported gains in total passenger traffic, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East remain the fastest growing regions with 10.6% and 10.9% gains, respectively. International passenger traffic for these regions grew by 11.6% and 11.4%, respectively.

The mature markets of North America and Europe posted total passenger traffic growth above trend at 4.5% and 5.8%, respectively. Latin America-Caribbean also saw strong increases in total passenger traffic at 6.4%. Africa trails with 4.4% total passenger traffic growth, with international traffic (2.9%) circumvented by strong domestic traffic increases (8.5%).

Several of the worlds’ busiest airports experienced double-digit increases in total passenger numbers, with the most notable of them being Dubai (DXB), Bangkok (BKK) and Shanghai (PVG), with growth of 23.2%, 22.8% and 22.0%, respectively. Incheon (ICN) and Delhi (DEL) follow the leading triumvirate with 19.9% and 14.9% growth in total passenger volumes.

Total air freight growth dipped to a one-year low of 1.3%. Out of top 30 airports by air freight traffic, 15 posted a decrease in total freight volumes from the previous year. Paris (CDG) and Miami (MIA) declined by a substantial 7.6% and 5.7%, respectively. Other major freight hubs—Frankfurt (FRA), Taipei (TPE), Tokyo (NRT) and Bangkok (BKK)—followed with 3.4%, 2.9%, 2.7% and 2.7% declines in freight volumes respectively.

The ongoing concerns in the Euro area are reflected in a 0.6% decrease in total freight as compared to the previous year, while domestic freight in Europe is in decline by a significant 5.6% and international freight is down slightly by 0.5%. The Middle East is outpacing Asia-Pacific with 4.4% versus 1.6% growth in total freight, while North America and Latin America each show 1.1% growth in total freight traffic. Africa posted an optimistic 10.3% increase, driven by total freight traffic growth of 9.4% and 15.9% in Johannesburg (JNB) and Casablanca (CMN), respectively.

May shows diverging results for passenger and air freight traffic. Robust growth in passenger traffic was led by Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, but on the other hand, weak growth in air freight coupled with significant declines in major international air freight hubs raises concerns about the second half of the year. While international tourism remains buoyant, the weaker than expected economic performance of Europe and the slowdown of international exports from Asia signal ongoing trepidations.