ACI World - global passenger traffic up by 53% in 2022; movements by 20%; cargo down

Airport Council International's (ACI) recently released statistics for 2022 hold no real surprises.

Passenger traffic rebounded as travel restrictions were removed, in some cases too quickly for ill-prepared airports. Movements were up, but not to the same degree, while cargo, which had prospered during the pandemic, decreased.

After a brief interlude when airports like Guangzhou in China found themselves with the accolade of being the world's 'busiest', Atlanta has resumed its #1 position in that category, and Dubai has done the same in the international airport category.

The most interesting conclusion to have arisen is that five US airports remain in the Top 10 globally for movements, and the reasons for that are partly because of the large share of US air traffic that is domestic (currently 77.5%) and because the hub and spoke system remains intact. Intact even five decades after it arose out of deregulation there, even though it has meant that some small airports have lost service altogether.