Asian airports led the way in traffic growth in 1995 and the first half of 1996, as most major airports worldwide benefited from steady airline traffic growth. A less pronounced increase in airport movements, however, indicates more efficient use of aircraft as congestion makes its mark. Financially, general airline recovery helped the world's airports to improve their profitability, with 45 major airport operators making a combined net profit of $1.88 billion - 10 per cent of turnover.
Osaka was the fastest growing airport system out of the top 50 reporting airports in 1995, with a 16 per cent increase in passenger numbers when results from Osaka/International and Osaka/Kansai are combined. In its first full year of operations, Kansai reached number 42 in the worldwide rankings, with 16.5 million passengers.
Seoul was the second fastest growing airport, reaping the benefits of an improved Korean economy. Seoul's 14.4 per cent increase enabled it to jump from 15th to 11th position in the overall passenger rankings, and it climbed from 15th to ninth place in terms of international passengers. Fukuoka and Bangkok took third and fourth places in the growth stakes. Elsewhere, St Louis, Munich, and Miami matched Bangkok's performance with growth rates around the 10 per cent mark.
Miami's passenger numbers were pushed up as American Airlines continued to develop its Latin American hub. Freight and mail passing through Miami increased 18.9 per cent as the airport fortified its links with Latin America, handling some 75 per cent of all exports to the region in 1995. 'Stabilising economies in Latin America are translating into increasing demand for US goods, while the US is purchasing more goods from South America,' says Janet Jainarain, aviation marketing specialist at Miami Airport. Passenger numbers at St Louis grew as TWA intensified its hub operation - TWA accounted for 69.4 per cent of traffic at St Louis last year, up from 63 per cent in 1994, according to Lehman Brothers.
Growth at the recently opened Munich airport followed Lufthansa's continuing development of the airport as its secondary hub. International passenger traffic rose by over 20 per cent at Detroit, meanwhile, as KLM and Northwest Airlines generated increased transatlantic passengers through their major hub, now linked to Amsterdam three times daily by the two airlines.
Not all airports enjoyed such prosperity last year, however. The downward traffic trend at Denver International was caused by Continental Airlines' withdrawal from its hub there in 1995. The wide divergence between the strong increase in revenue and the net loss recorded at Denver were influenced by last year's delayed opening of the new airport. At Manchester, freight and mail traffic dropped following a reduction in available belly capacity and the loss of night-time freighter operations due to runway resurfacing.
Revenue at Paris/Charles de Gaulle and Paris/Orly edged up, but Aéroports de Paris blames its drop in profits on 'unfavourable economic, political and social factors' created by 'the unstable situation of the French air transport industry'. Results were further affected by the largely self-funded FFr 1,800 million (US$360 million)investment programme carried out by Aéroports de Paris on the two main Paris airports in 1995. Paris traffic results were marked by contrasting trends, with freight and airport movements up while passenger numbers fell.
Last year Chicago/O'Hare tenaciously held on to its number one position in terms of passenger numbers, while BAA plc maintained a clear lead as the world's most profitable airport company. Memphis, ranked by ACI as number 84 in terms of passenger numbers, remains the world's busiest freight airport thanks to Federal Express.
Survey by Lois Jones
Source: Airline Business
