Outlook 2024: Airports spotlight – 2023 turned out to be far better than 2022 but with caveats 1/3

The airports business is in a better position than it was this time in 2022, but 'headwinds' remain, and the Black Swans that habitually inflict misery on the entire industry have not hibernated yet.

In this first of a three-part summary of 2023 and outlook for 2024 for the sector, CAPA - Centre for Aviation looks back at the conclusions it drew for the 2022 Outlook - how most of them proved to be accurate, and how traffic, capacity and demand is returning to, or is close to, 2019 levels at the end of 2023 in the passenger segment, and how it is improving again in the cargo segment, which is the one that effectively kept the business going during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It backs up these conclusions with figures from ICAO and IATA, but also takes into account an independent private sector survey report which suggests that the level of confidence among airport management about finances and recovery potential is low.

It ranges over the conflicts taking place across the world, and how they are affecting and might impact further on the air transport business generally, and on how the Nov-2024 US presidential election could influence airport development and financing there.

It finishes with a brief consideration of the expansion of the BRICS bloc and the implications for the airport sector in those countries.