The Airports Council International said that airports worldwide reported that 2006 cargo traffi c increased by 4 percent, while passenger traffi c rose 5 percent, as compared to 2005. International passenger and freight results rose even more fi rmly by 7 percent and6 percent respectively.
Beijing was a top performer in the Asia Pacifi c region with increases of 18 percent in passenger traffi c, 32 percent in cargo and 10 percent in aircraft movements. Several major hubs across Asia Pacifi c had strong results, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Incheon, Bangkok and Tokyo Haneda. In India, both Mumbai and New Delhi saw excellent growth this year (each increasing by more than 20 percent).
Across Europe, several large and medium-sized airports reported strong growth, for example Paris CDG, Italy (Rome and Milan), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona) and Poland (Warsaw, Krakow), Germany (Munich, Dùsseldorf), Ireland (Dublin), Russia (St Petersburg) to name but a few. London Heathrow’s fl at results stemmed from the August security scare and severe weather in December, but also show the stagnating effect of lack of expansion.
In North America, airline diffi culties negatively impacted traffi c growth (Delta and Northwest restructuring and Independence Air closure) at hubs such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Washington. Denver was best performer at 9 percent increase, and both Newark and Houston had strong 7.4 percent increases.
Middle Eastern airports performed very well in 2006, with Dubai, Kuwait, Muscat and Bahrain reporting doubledigit traffi c growth. Dubai has become one of the most preferred business and leisure destinations in the region, with 28m passengers last year.
In Africa, Johannesburg led with strong growth in both passenger (9 percent) and cargo (15 percent) traffi c, and Cape Town recorded a 7 percent passenger traffi c increase. Cairo and cities in Morocco also performed well for the year.
In the Latin America region, overall traffi c growth and capacity was restrained as a result of cutbacks in the number of fl ights operated by Varig, one of the largest airlines in the region. Strong passenger growth was recorded at several airports across the region in Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, Jamaica and Brazil (the medium sized airports).
Robert J Aaronson, director general of ACI, said: “Everyone in our industry needs to take note of these results and our long term forecast for continued expansion. We cannot afford to sit back and wait for the future to take care of itself. We must actively pursue both immediate and long-term capacity planning so that we can continue to offer high quality customer service that meets our goals for sustainability and environmental compatibility.”
| RANK | AIRPORT | CARGO | %CHG |
| 1 | Memphis | 3 692 205 | 2.6 |
| 2 | Hong Kong | 3 608 789 | 5.1 |
| 3 | Anchorage | 2 803 792 | 5.9 |
| 4 | Seoul | 2 336 571 | 8.7 |
| 5 | Tokyo-NRT | 2 280 026 | (0.5) |
| 6 | Shanghai Pudong | 2 159 321 | 16.3 |
| 7 | Frankfurt | 2 127 797 | 8.4 |
| 8 | Louiseville, KY | 1 982 985 | 9.3 |
| 9 | Singapore | 1 931 881 | 4.2 |
| 10 | Los Angeles | 1 907 173 | (1.1) |
| 11 | Paris-CDG | 1 854 950 | 5.0 |
| 12 | Miami | 1 830 592 | 3.9 |
| 13 | Taipei | 1 698 808 | (0.4) |
| 14 | New York-JFK | 1 660 158 | 0.2 |
| 15 | Chicago | 1 618 331 | 4.8 |
| 16 | Amsterdam | 1 559 787 | 4.3 |
| 17 | Dubai | 1 503 696 | 14.4 |
| 18 | London-LHR | 1 343 932 | (3.1) |
| 19 | Bangkok | 1 181 814 | 3.6 |
| 20 | Indianapolis | 1 044 293 | 0.3 |
| 21 | Beijing-PEK | 1 044 293 | 31.6 |
| 22 | Newark, NJ | 969 936 | 2.1 |
| 23 | Osaka-KIX | 842 085 | (3.1) |
| 24 | Tokyo-HND | 832 854 | 4.3 |
| 25 | Guangzhou | 824 906 | 9.9 |
| 26 | Luxembourg | 751 645 | 1.9 |
| 27 | Dallas/FT Worth | 748 056 | 1.5 |
| 28 | Atlanta | 746 500 | (2.8) |
| 29 | Brussels | 691 250 | (0.3) |
| 30 | Colonge-GNC | 691 110 | 7.4 |
