Asian airports see good start to the year

Asian airports see good start to the year The Asia-Pacific and Middle East region had a good start in year 2014, recording +10.7% year-on-year growth in passenger traffic in January. Almost all airports registered a positive result compared to January 2013 except for Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) which saw a drop in international passenger traffic by -4.1% due to the declaration of State of Emergency in Bangkok and surrounding provinces on 22 January 2014. More than half of the airports in the region recorded double-digit growth in January 2014 partly due to the Chinese New Year holiday which occurred during the period of 31 January to 3 February this year whereas it was in February in 2013. The airport with the highest growth is Hangzhou (HGH) with +34.3% increase year-on-year. Kaohsiung (KHH), Chengdu (CTU), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Chiang Mai (CNX) and Bangkok Don Mueang (DMK) all recorded more than 20% growth. For air cargo traffic, Asia-Pacific airports recorded a +3.8% year-on-year increase in January 2014, very close to the +3.7% recorded by the Middle Eastern counterparts. Contrary to passenger traffic, air cargo traffic showed a wider disparity. While about half of the airports showed positive results, another half recorded a decrease in traffic when compared to same month last year. Nagoya (NGO) is the airport with the highest growth in January 2014, recording +51.7%.