ACI report details traffic slump

Print Article E-Mail Article

The tragic events of 11 September coupled with the worldwide economy slowdown, show airport traffic slumping to historical lows at the close of last year with passenger traffic and aircraft movements both down 15% in September 2001. For the nine months, January to September 2001, passenger traffic was up 1% and aircraft movements down 1% over the same period in 2000.

ACI (Airports Council International) results for September 2001 from over 700 airports worldwide show passenger traffic down in all regions. Hardest hit was North America with a 32% drop. Passenger traffic also dropped in Africa (-6%), the Middle East and Latin America/Caribbean (both -4%), Asia/Pacific and Europe (both -3%).

Of the world's top 30 airports, 23 saw their traffic drop dramatically. Among them were San Francisco (-38%), Dallas/Fort Worth (-35%) and Chicago O'Hare (-34%). For the first time, Tokyo Haneda became the world's busiest airport handling 5.2m passengers (+3%) in September 2001.

In terms of aircraft movements Africa was the only region to show a rise (+2%), and movements fell sharply in North America (-24%). They also dropped in Latin America/Caribbean (-6%), the Middle East (-5%), Europe (-3%) and Asia/Pacific (-1%).

• For further details contact Maria Hinayon, ACI senior manager and data processing on telephone: +41 22 717 8585 or email info@airports.org