Asia Pacific airports pax up 7% in Aug-2012

ACI Asia Pacific reported (16-Oct-2012) Asia Pacific airports continued showing a steady growth in passenger traffic at 6.6% year-on-year in Aug-2012 while Middle Eastern airports' passenger traffic grew by 16.2%. Beijing Airport handled 7.5 million passengers in Aug-2012 and remained the airport in the region with the highest passenger throughput, followed by Tokyo Haneda with 6.5 million passengers and Hong Kong with more than 5.1 million passengers. In terms of air cargo traffic, Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern airports recorded a slight increase of 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively. Hong Kong remained the airport in the region with the highest cargo throughput, processing over 328,000 tonnes of cargo followed by Shanghai Pudong with 241,000 tonnes, Seoul Incheon with 194,000 tonnes as well as Dubai and Tokyo Narita with 191,000 and 157,000 tonnes, respectively. Details include:

• Passenger numbers:
  • Asia Pacific: +6.6% year-on-year;
    
    • Domestic: +5.2%;
    • International: +8.6%;
  • Middle East: +16.2%;
    
    • International: +16.9%;
• Cargo volume:
  
  • Asia Pacific: +0.4%;
    
    • Domestic: +1.0%;
    • International: +0.2%;
  • Middle East: +0.1%;
    
    • International: +0.1%. [more - original PR]

ACI Asia Pacific: "With the uncertainty of the global economy still persisting, in particular in the developed countries, air cargo traffic remains flat in August and overall, during the first eight months of the year. With a stronger-than-expected 10% growth in Chinese exports in September, we are hopeful that the cargo traffic for both Asia-Pacific and Middle East will pick up speed again and positive figures will be achieved at year-end," Patti Chau, regional director. Source: Company statement, 16-Oct-2012.