Airports in Asia Pacific Report 6% Increase in Passenger Traffic for April 2014

According to data compiled by ACI Asia-Pacific, passenger traffic growth regained strength for the month of April 2014 mainly due to the shift in the Easter holidays.

Airports in Asia Pacific recorded a year-on-year increase of +6.0% while airports in the Middle East recorded an increase of +14.7%.

For year-to-date passenger traffic from January to April 2014, the Middle East continued to lead the region with a strong increase of +10.7%, while the Asia-Pacific posted an increase of +5.5%.

Beijing (PEK) was the busiest airport for the year-to-date followed by Dubai (DXB), and Tokyo Haneda (HND), Hong Kong (HKG) and Guangzhou (CAN).

From January to April 2014, the busiest airports in the Middle East all demonstrated robust growth from last year: Abu Dhabi (AUH, +16.9%), Doha (DOH, +14.8%) and Dubai (DXB, +11.9%) whereas airports in Asia Pacific with the highest year-to-date growth include: Bangkok Don Muang (DMK, +20.3%), Chiang Mai (CNX, +19.9%), Kaohsiung (KHH, +18.9%), Hangzhou (HGH, +17.8%) and Kuala Lumpur (KUL, +14.5%).

Coupled with the pre-Easter rush in some countries and improving global trade demand, air cargo traffic continues its upward trend.

Asia Pacific airports recorded a year-on-year growth of +5.1% for the month of April 2014 while the Middle East recorded an increase of +4.4%. Year-to-date growth was +4.5% for Asia Pacific and +5.0% for the Middle East.

The top 5 airports with the highest cargo throughput from January to April 2014 were: Hong Kong (HKG, +5.7%), Shanghai Pudong (PVG, +7.9%), Dubai (DXB, +4.6%), Seoul Incheon (ICN, +5.1%) and Tokyo Narita (NRT, +10.2%).