São Paulo – Latin America and the Middle East boosted the growth of passenger traffic in December 2010. According to a study disclosed on Tuesday (1) by the Airports Council International (ACI), the organisation that brings together airport management organisations worldwide, passenger movement in Latin America rose 9.1% as against December 2009. In the Middle East, the expansion was 8.7%.
Brazil was the highlight in Latin America, with growth of 18% in airport movement in Brasília, 16.6% in São Paulo and 15.3% in Rio de Janeiro. In the Middle East, the airports with the greatest growth in passenger movement were Dubai (11.6%), Abu Dhabi (10.9%) and Muscat, the capital of Oman, with 18.2%.
In total, passenger movement worldwide rose 4% in December as against the same month in 2009. In the accumulated result for last year, the movement grew 6%, with 7% expansion in international flights and 5% in domestic flights. In late 2010, the general director at ACI, Angela Gittens, estimated annual growth of 7% in moment as a whole.
According to the director of the economic area at ACI, Andreas Schimm, 2010 should be a year to be remembered by civil aviation. "2010 was a banner year for air traffic, generating a much quicker recovery than expected. The 6 percent growth takes the global industry well beyond pre-crisis volumes," he said, according to the organisation.
The executive added, however, that aviation must "remain vigilant" to matters beyond the crisis that may affect the sector, among them political unrest in Tunisia and Egypt, two great tourist destinations. In December, for example, Egypt was one of the highlights for growth of passenger traffic among the African nations.
*Translated by Mark Ament
