August passenger traffic jumps up by over 6%; air freight volumes remain in a slump

Montréal, 14 October 2015 – Global passenger traffic at the world’s major airports rose by 6.4% year over year for the month of August while international and domestic traffic posted growth rates of 6.4% and 6.5% respectively. Both July and August had strong increases in passenger numbers due to holiday travel and tourism activity. Growth continues to be above the twelve-month average trend.

With the exception of Africa, which experienced a drop of 4.6% in passenger traffic, all regions posted large gains in passenger traffic. Ongoing security concerns in Northern African states have left the region’s air transport demand in a weakened state. Middle Eastern airports reported the greatest increase in passenger traffic with double-digit gains of 15%. Doha (DOH) and Abu Dhabi (AUH), two of the region’s major hubs, grew by 22% and 17.4% respectively. With continued recovery in the Euro area and the United States, growth in airport passenger traffic in the regions has continued on an upward trajectory. Both European and North American passenger traffic grew by 5.7%. Robust growth of 8.3% in passenger traffic was achieved across airports in the Asia-Pacific region. Many airports in China and India reported significant gains in year-over year passenger numbers. Shanghai (PVG) and New Delhi (DEL) grew by 20.9% and 15.3% respectively.

While passenger traffic remained strong in in many parts of the Asia-Pacific region, global air freight markets were affected by slowing economic growth in China. With a high concentration of the world’s major air freight hubs located in the region, this has an impact on global growth in volumes, which has remained flat as compared to last year. Hong Kong (HKG), the region’s largest air freight hub, declined by 1.4% year-over-year. Despite the economic revival in advanced economies, air freight contracted by 1.7% in North America. Memphis (MEM), a major FedEx hub, and Louisville (SDF), the UPS hub, each experienced a decrease of 1.4% and 0.8% respectively in terms of year-over-year growth in volumes.

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Notes for editors

1.  Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide association of airports, has 591 member airport authorities, which operate 1,850 airports in 173 countries. ACI’s mission is to promote professional excellence in airport management and operations, and this mandate is carried out through the organization’s multiple training opportunities, as well as the customer service benchmarking programme, a wide range of conferences, industry statistical products and best practice publications.

2.  PaxFlash and FreightFlash 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.

3. To download a pdf version of this media release, please click here.

Media contact                                            

Ryan White
Manager, Communications
ACI World
Telephone: +1 514 373 1226
Email: rwhite@aci.aero