Airports see first traffic growth since September

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Airports Council International announced this week its preliminary traffic data for January and February 2002 shows signs of gradual recovery. According to preliminary 2001 results from over 700 ACI member airports worldwide passenger traffic shrank by 3% last year. In December 2001, passenger traffic slumped by 9% compared to the same period in 2000.

ACI said in 2001, airport throughput in most regions showed a decline. Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean bucked the downward trend in passenger traffic with slight increases of 2% and 1%, respectively. Declines in passenger traffic were registered in Europe (-1%) and the Middle East (-1%), Africa (-2%) and North America (-6%). Prior to September 11, passenger traffic results up to August 2001 showed a 3% increase worldwide.

Last year Atlanta continued to be the world's busiest airport with 75.8m passengers handled (-5%). It was followed by Chicago O'Hare with 66.8m (-7%), Los Angeles with 61.0m (-8%) and London Heathrow with 60.7m (-6%). Of the top 30 airports worldwide, only three recorded traffic growth: Tokyo Haneda with 58.7m (+4%), Madrid with 34.0m (+3%) and Bangkok with 30.6m (+3%).