Airports Council International (ACI) World has published the 2018 edition of its annual World Airport Traffic Report. This found that global passenger growth remained ‘resilient and robust’ amid threats from trade and political tension worldwide.

All regions experienced growth with a robust year-on-year global passenger increase of +7.5% in 2017 over 2016, one of the strongest growth rates on record. Aircraft movements increased by 3% in 2017, the highest annual percentage growth increase since 2004.

In total, the world’s airports accommodated 8,277,676,508 passengers and 95,772,011 aircraft movements.

Most of the world’s fastest-growing large airports are located in emerging markets with 16 of the fastest-growing top-30 airports with over 15m passengers located in just two countries, China and India.

RECORD TRAFFIC LEVELS

Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World said: “Global passenger traffic has reached record levels as airports continued to make a crucial contribution to furthering economic development and global connectivity.

“While strong competitive forces continue to drive innovation and improvements in efficiency and service for passengers, airports face the challenges of meeting the continuing global growth in demand for air services.”

She added: “The core issue for our industry remains how we respond to this demand at a local, national and international level as physical capacity considerations and potential bottlenecks in air transport infrastructure pose challenges in accommodating future air transport demand.

“To help to ensure communities continue to reap the social and economic benefits of air service growth, national policy should be focused on facilitating growth over the long-term, setting out clear objectives for their aviation sector.

While airports and their partners strive to provide a positive response to the challenges of growth, the threat of regulation and changes in international trade policy remain fundamental concerns. “Protectionist policies that retreat from further economic integration and air transport liberalisation could have adverse effects on the industry,” said Gittens.

“Global air service growth has remained resilient but the continuing impact of protectionism and trade wars on international air transport services will likely have a major impact on airports in the future.

“The benefits of increased air travel are clear and further liberalisation should be welcomed to maintain growth and improve connectivity to the benefit of the global trade and local communities.

ADVANCED ECONOMIES

Passenger traffic in advanced economies grew +5.2% in 2017 while passenger traffic in emerging economies grew +10.3%. Rising economies in emerging markets are expected to help propel global traffic to new heights in the coming decades as new aviation hubs begin to overtake the more mature markets of Western Europe and North America.

Sizeable population bases and rapid rises in incomes in emerging markets are the main economic engines driving air transportation demand. Countries located in emerging markets account for over 85% of the world’s population but less than half of global Gross Domestic Product.

With 13 airports out of the top-30 busiest passenger hubs, Asia-Pacific dominates the ranking for 2017. Traffic at the world’s 30 busiest air passenger hubs grew 5.4% last year, serving almost 2bn passengers, 24% of total global passenger traffic.

Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson maintained its position as the world’s busiest airport, handling just under 104m passengers in 2017. Beijing held second spot with over 95m passengers, while Dubai International remained in third with more than 88m pax and maintained its position as the world’s busiest hub for international passenger traffic.