Continued growth for July passenger traffic; air freight out of the woods

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1 Continued growth for July passenger traffic; air freight out of the woods Montréal, 11 September 2014 One of the busiest months of the year for global travel saw passenger traffic rise by 4.3% over the previous year. This continues to be on par with the average 12-month growth trend of 4.5%. International travel, in particular, is acting as the main catalyst for this strong growth since international passenger traffic rose by 4.8%. Domestic passenger markets moved up by 3.9% for the month. All regions posted gains in passenger traffic, with Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America posting the highest increases in July passenger numbers at overall growth in the realm of 5%. Cairo (CAI), a major Egyptian airport that serves as the gateway to major tourist destinations, has begun to recover after the tourism sectors were crippled in 2012 and 2013 due to the political and social unrest that swept Northern Africa. The airport experienced double digit gains of 11.5%. Twenty-eight of Europe s top thirty busiest airports posted gains in passenger traffic. Among the top 30 airports, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen (SAW), Brussels (BRU) and Moscow (DME) also achieved significant growth numbers of 21.3%, 14.8% and 13.7% respectively. Although Dubai (DXB) declined slightly in year-over-year passenger traffic due to a temporary closure of a runway over the summer months, the second and third ranked airports of Doha (DOH) and Abu Dhabi (AUH) posted gains of 11.2% and 21.7% respectively. North America posted above-average gains of 4.6% in July as compared to the twelve-month average of 2.8%, although traffic was slightly depressed in 2013 as compared to The region s top airports Atlanta (ATL; 3.6%), Los Angeles (LAX; 6.3%) and Chicago (ORD; 7.3%) all posted strong gains. Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean experienced passenger growth of 3.5% and 2.7% respectively. Air freight volumes posted one of the strongest monthly gains in over two years. Overall volumes increased by 6.7% for the month of July. All regions with the exception of Africa posted gains in air freight traffic. The recovery in world trade coupled with improvements in business confidence and domestic demand, particularly in the United States, are largely attributed to the strong recovery. Air freight volumes increased by 8.9% across North American airports. The Middle East posted the highest gains of 12% year-over-year in freight volumes. We are likely to see more moderate growth in freight volumes over the long run, which will be more in line with the overall 12-month growth trend in the realm of 3%. Nevertheless, air freight markets appear to be out of the woods with the recent improvements in global trade and commerce, said Rafael Echevarne, Economics Director, ACI World. While we have witnessed some slowdowns in certain areas of the world due to geo-political risks and disease outbreaks, on 1

2 the whole the resilience of the world s major hubs has circumvented these dangers. Air transport demand remains strong with accumulated traffic growing by 4.5% from January to July. The cyclical slowdowns in emerging markets and the lingering downside risks in advanced economies have left the aviation sector largely unencumbered in the first half of 2014, with passenger traffic maintaining a resilient growth path. Notes for editors 1. Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide association of airports, has 591 member airport authorities, which operate 1,861 airports in 177 countries. ACI s mission is to promote professional excellence in airport management and operations, and this mandate is carried out through the organization s multiple training opportunities, as well as the customer service benchmarking programme, a wide range of conferences, industry statistical products and best practice publications. 2. PaxFlash and FreightFlash statistics are based on a significant sample of airports that provide regular monthly reports to ACI. They represent approximately 60% of total passenger traffic and 70% of total freight traffic worldwide. Commentary, tables and charts are based on preliminary data submitted by participating airports and are therefore subject to change. 3. Regional results and trend graphics are provided on the following pages. Media contacts Martine Ohayon Director, Communications and Events ACI World Telephone: mohayon@aci.aero Ryan White Manager, Communications ACI World Telephone: rwhite@aci.aero ACI PaxFlash and FreightFlash July

3 Charts and tables TABLE 1: SUMMARY WORLDWIDE TRAFFIC RESULTS, July 2014 (% CHANGE) July 2014 over July 2013 PaxFlash Year to date month rolling year International passenger Domestic passenger Total passenger FreightFlash International freight Domestic freight Total freight ACI PaxFlash and FreightFlash July

4 Regions International passengers TABLE 2: PaxFlash summary July 2014 JULY 2014 YTD JULY 2014 YE thru JULY 2014 Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America-Caribbean Middle East North America World Domestic passengers Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America-Caribbean Middle East North America World Total passengers Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America-Caribbean Middle East North America World Traffic table definitions: PASSENGER TRAFFIC: departing + arriving passengers INTERNATIONAL: traffic performed between the designated airport and an airport in another country/territory DOMESTIC: traffic performed between two airports located in the same country/territory TOTAL: international + domestic + direct transit passengers counted once (when breakdown is available) Year-over-year percentage changes () are calculated from a representative sample. YOY YTD YE Year-over-year same-month comparison Year to date, starting January 2014 to July 2014, compared to same period in previous year Year end, based on a rolling 12-month period, compared to the same prior 12-month period ACI PaxFlash and FreightFlash July

5 Passenger traffic growth trends Month-by-month comparison with the same month the previous year ACI PaxFlash and FreightFlash July

6 Regions International freight TABLE 3: FreightFlash summary July 2014 JULY 2014 YTD JULY 2014 YE thru JULY 2014 Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America-Caribbean Middle East North America World Domestic freight Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America-Caribbean Middle East North America World Total freight Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America-Caribbean Middle East North America World Traffic table definitions: FREIGHT TRAFFIC: loaded and unloaded freight; data in metric tonnes INTERNATIONAL: traffic performed between the designated airport and an airport in another country/territory DOMESTIC: traffic performed between two airports located in the same country/territory TOTAL: international + domestic freight (when breakdown is available) Note: No domestic freight traffic is reported by airports in the Middle East region. Year-over-year percentage changes () are calculated from a representative sample. YOY YTD YE Year-over-year same-month comparison Year to date, starting January 2014 to July 2014, compared to same period in previous year Year end, based on a rolling 12-month period, compared to same prior 12-month period ACI PaxFlash and FreightFlash July

7 Freight traffic growth trends Month-by-month comparison with the same month the previous year - ENDS - ACI PaxFlash and FreightFlash July