Airports report continued strong passenger growth for 1995.
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON
THE WORLD'S MAJOR airports have reported a fourth successive year of strong passenger growth for 1995, although the rate of expansion now appears to be slowing.
Preliminary figures from the Airports Council International (ACI) show that, passenger volumes rose by 4.7% in 1995, again led by strong performances in Asia-Pacific and Europe.
Nevertheless, the rate of growth has visibly slowed from the 6% recorded in the first half of the year, and was well below the 8.4% achieved in 1994, when the recovery was still in full flow.
A large part of the slow-down stems from a relatively flat North American market. After its heady performance a year ago, traffic in 1995 averaged a more modest 3% improvement in passenger numbers and cargo tonnage.
The major US hubs generally continued to grow above the average, with some notable rising stars, such as Atlanta and Miami. Detroit also propelled itself into the top ten US rankings at the expense of New York's Newark, where passenger numbers dwindled. Denver's outgoing Stapleton Airport was the only other major airport to post an outright decline.
Markets across Europe remained buoyant, with the obvious exception of France, where the six-week national strike towards the end of 1995 crippled the country's transport system, Paris airports included. Growth, at Rome also appears to have been hit, by a year of industrial unrest at Alitalia.
The UK's Manchester Airport fell out of the European top ten, but could reclaim its place if it achieves growth targets this year, while Munich also narrowly missed the ranks, but is climbing fast.
Solid growth at the three main London airports edged the city ahead of New York as the world's busiest hub, handling more than 80 million passengers.
The Asia-Pacific region continued to lead the world, with solid passenger-growth of close to 8%. South Korea's Seoul, fast developing as an off shore hub for Japanese traffic, put on the strongest growth at more than 14% for passengers.
Full figures are not yet available for much of the Japanese air-transport system, but those for Tokyo's congested domestic and international hubs suggest that growth was more subdued than elsewhere in the region. That should change over the next five years as new capacity is added in Tokyo. After its first year, Osaka's off shore Kansai Airport is also already close to being full, with plans in hand to increase runway capacity.
The ACI points out that, even at marginally slower growth rates, world traffic will double to over 4 billion passengers during the next 12 years, creating further pressure for infrastructure investment.
Some of that increase, is being taken up, by larger aircraft. In 1995, the number of passengers being carried on each flight continued to edge up across the world, as traffic grew at twice the rate of air-transport movements. New runways will still be needed if the growth is to keep rolling, however.
Source: Flight International
