ACI Asia Pacific: Asia Pacific pax up 9%, Middle East pax up 15% in Mar-2013
ACI Asia Pacific reported (15-May-2013) Asia Pacific airports recorded a 9.3% year-on-year increase and Middle East airports recorded a 15.4% in passenger numbers Mar-2013. The airport association reported passenger traffic during the first three months of the year was "very promising" with a 6.4% increase in Asia Pacific and a 12.6% increase in the Middle East. Beijing was the busiest airport in the region with close to 20 million passengers in 1Q2013, up 4.8%, while Dubai was the busiest in terms of international passenger traffic, with 16.5 million passengers, an increase of 15.6%. On the contrary, air cargo traffic showed a slight decline of 1.1% at Asia Pacific airports while the Middle Eastern airports continued to grow steadily at 8.7%. In 1Q2013, air cargo traffic remains stagnant in Asia Pacific, down slightly at 1.0% but the Middle Eastern airports recorded a strong increase of 9.8%. [more - original PR]