ACI Asia Pacific Reports 6.1% Increase in Passenger Traffic in November 2013

According to ACI, airports in Asia Pacific and the Middle Eastern welcomed 6.1% more passengers in November 2013 compared to November 2012.

Despite a growth rate slightly lower than the previous 3 months, the two regions handled close to 116 million passengers in the month of November, more than half of which were domestic traffic.

Airports in Thailand continued to do well in November 2013, recording more than 23% growth in Bangkok Don Mueang (DMK) and Chiang Mai (CNX). Other airports with double-digit growth included Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Siem Reap (REM), Phuket (HKT) and Phnom Penh (PNH) etc.

Airports with the highest passenger throughput in November 2013 was Beijing (PEK) with 6.6 million passengers, followed by Tokyo Haneda (HND), 6.2 million and Dubai (DXB), 5.3 million.

January to November 2013 passenger traffic increased by 7.2% and 10.3% compared to same period last year in Asia Pacific and Middle East regions respectively.

For air cargo, a strong growth of 12.9% was recorded in the Middle East whereas Asia Pacific airports also gained 5% growth year-on-year. Boosted by international freight traffic, the region handled close to 3 million tonnes of cargo in November 2013.

Hong Kong (HKG) remained the airport with the highest cargo throughput, handling close to 400,000 tonnes, followed by Shanghai Pudong (PVG), with 271,000 tonnes and Dubai (DXB) with 223,000 tonnes.

Many airports achieved good results in November 2013 recording more than 20% increase compared to same month last year, eg. Nagoya (NGO), Abu Dhabi (AUH), Manila (MNL) and Jeju (CJU).

Overall cargo traffic from January to November 2013 remained stagnant in Asia Pacific, with a slight increase of 0.6% but a strong 5.5% growth was recorded in the Middle East comparing to same period last year.