Asia-Pacific Passenger Traffic Increases 8.5%

Passenger traffic has increased 8.5% at Asia-Pacific airports in the first half of 2012, compared to the same period last year. The Middle East is continually outperforming other areas with a year-on-year growth of 13.2%.

Beijing (PEK), the second busiest airport in the world, processed more than 39.3 million passengers in the first half of 2012. Other international hubs in the area include Bangkok (BKK) and Dubai (DXB), which recorded a passenger increase of 14.2% and 13.7%, respectively, while Singapore and Seoul Incheon saw a growth of 11.6%. Osaka Kansai and Tokyo Narita airports in Japan noted a 21% increase. Cargo figures were also up 1.7% in June, compared to the same month in 2011.

Asia Passenger Traffic Increases

In examining June for passenger traffic in the Asia-Pacific area, Beijing (PEK) topped the list again, handling 6.7 million passengers in that month alone. This was followed by 5.2 million handled by Tokyo Haneda (HND), and Jakarta (CGK) coming a close third with just over 5 million. The final two airports making the top five were Hong Kong (HKG) and Dubai (DXB), with each processing 4.6 million passengers in June 2012.

Mrs. Patti Chau, ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Director said: “Our region went through a challenging year in 2011 and it is encouraging to see a strong rebound in the passenger traffic in the first 6 months of 2012.  Driven by the growth in intra-regional and domestic passenger traffic, the region remains resilient to the economic uncertainty that is still looming in other parts of the World.”

“Many airports in the region are undergoing expansion projects or construction of new airports, this positive half-year result proves that they are going the right direction and gives confidence to government and private investors,” she added.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Airports (CAPA) reports that India will require $40 billion to develop its airports by 2025 to handle the increasing traffic.

CAPA has projected that 55 of India’s cities will have a population of one million by 2030. “Airports have massive land requirements and will have to fight with other users of land, for what will be an increasingly expensive asset,” according to the report.

Image Copyright Prateek Karandikar Courtesy Wikimedia Commons