Worldwide passenger traffic up last year

The number of passengers flying in 2013 surpassed the 6 billion mark worldwide, an “enormous feat” for the airport industry as it celebrates the 100th anniversary this year of commercial aviation, according to a just-released report.

Traffic increased 4.6 percent last year to 6.3 billion, according to a 2013 World Airport Traffic Report by the Airport Council International.

“The opportunities that lay ahead for aviation are enormous, particularly in emerging markets,” Angela Gittens, director general of the Airport Council International World, said in a news release. “The huge demographic bases in many of these economies, coupled with rising per-capita income, will mean continued growth at airports in these markets.”

For the first half of 2014, preliminary airport traffic results show signs of a steady recovery of the global passenger and cargo markets, Rafael Echevarne, director of economics and program development for ACI World, said in a statement.

Passenger traffic grew 4.8 percent in the first six months of 2014, up from the growth in 2013.

The cargo market rose 3.7 percent in the same period, compared to a net decline for the same time a year ago.

The airport industry continues to face challenges, however, Echevarne said in a statement, with a lingering uncertainty surrounding demand for air transport worldwide.

That’s influenced by social and political volatility in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and West Africa, he said.

“Whilst this volatility obviously has a direct negative impact on traffic at airports located in the affected areas, the potential for a contagious effect on traffic at airports in other parts of the world is real,” Echevarne said.

Atlanta remained the busiest airport in the world last year with 94.4 million passengers. That was down 1.1 percent over the previous year.

Beijing was ranked second with 83.7 million passengers, up 2.2 percent in 2013, followed by London, Tokyo, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dubai, Paris, Dallas/Fort Worth and Jakarta, Indonesia.

One of the fastest growing airports in the world is Dubai International. It moved from the 10th busiest to the seventh busiest with traffic up 15 percent last year.

London handled the most international traffic of any airport last year at 67.3 million passengers, followed by Dubai and Hong Kong.

Atlanta handled the most domestic passenger traffic last year, followed by Beijing and Tokyo.

Worldwide airport cargo, meanwhile, rose 0.9 percent last year to 96 million metric tons.

Hong Kong was the busiest air cargo airport in the world, followed by Memphis. Each of those airports handled more than 4 million metric tons of cargo last year.

This story was originally published September 17, 2014 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Worldwide passenger traffic up last year."