The Airports Council International (ACI) World reports that the end of 2017 saw an increase in both passenger traffic and air freight, and in the latter’s case, this was the largest growth year since 2010.
In all, the year boasted a 6.4 percent passenger volume increase throughout the world–the third year in a row gains have been above 6 percent. On the freight front, numbers reached 7.9 percent for 2017.
“Since the end of the Great Recession in 2009 to early 2010, global passenger traffic has been growing at an average rate of 5.5 percent annually—a testament to air transport’s resilience,” Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World, said. “Air freight markets experienced one of the sharpest upward jumps in volumes in decades. “At the same time, we must be cognizant of the impediments that could curtail the continued rise in demand, potentially hampering growth prospects over the short- and medium-term.”
Political unrest, terrorism and security threats have all been cited as potential downturns in the future in certain parts of the world, furthered by what Gittens called protectionist policies that pull some nations back from economic integration. Both the United States and the U.K. were singled out as economically uncertain markets going forward due to their trade policies–but for the moment, business confidence has continued. Infrastructure bottlenecks and capacity concerns are also a real worry going forward.
“With several years of continued robust growth, passenger traffic surpassed the 8.2 billion marks in 2017,” the report said. “These encouraging results may be a sign that fears concerning the impact of inward-looking policies have not fully precipitated across sectors of the economy.”
European and Asia-Pacific markets have been largely responsible for the passenger increases, with Europe boasting an 8.5 percent year-over-year growth and numerous Indian and Chinese airports yielding double-digit growths. Yet Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa are also experiencing growth–4.3 percent for the former pair and 5.9 percent for the latter. The United States gained 3.5 percent in 2017.
In contrast, every region boasted strong gains in air freight volumes.