Global passenger traffic continues to moderate in November while the freight industry’s difficulties lessened somewhat during the period, according to Airports Council International (ACI) World data.
ACI reported that global passenger traffic grew by +1.8% in November 2019 year-on-year. This compares to October’s figures of +2.3%, leading the industry towards a gradual decrease in growth rates in 2019.
The results are a continuation of a moderation trend that started in July, with November year-to-date growth standing at +3%, said ACI.
Global freight volumes declined by only -2% in November, up from a -2.9% drop in October. November’s year-to-date change stands at -3%, “with seemingly no chance left of returning to positive territory before the end of the year,” ACI said.
“We expect global passenger traffic growth to hover around +3% for 2019, compared to +6.4% in 2018,” ACI World director general Angela Gittens said. “The year has been particularly difficult for air freight, with the industry gaining around +3% last year and trending towards -3% for 2019, a drop of 6 percentage points.”
She added: “Considering the shock to the global economy generated by the multiple trade tensions flaring up, it is fair to say the situation could have been much worse.”
For the passenger segment, the international market continued to outpace the domestic market in November, gaining +2.7% year-over-year , while domestic traffic slowed to +1.2%. Year-to-date growth for the two segments currently stand at +4.1% and +2.3%, respectively.
The Asia-Pacific region gained +2.4% in global passenger traffic in November compared to the previous year, bringing its year-to-date results to +2.3%. A sudden increase in domestic traffic fueled most of that growth, the segment gaining +2.7%, raising its year-to-date to +1.5% in 2019.
Meanwhile, November results showed a slight easing in the current downturn affecting the air freight industry. Total freight volumes fell by -2% in November, up from -2.9% in October. The results brought year-to-date decline to -3%, with only one month of data left to compile in 2019. The international segment saw a particularly large uptick, only falling by -1.8% on a year-over-year basis, compared to October’s -4.5%. The resulting year-to-date figure went sideways, however, standing at -4.4%.
Domestic freight was a drag on the improvements generated by the international segment, dropping significantly in November. The former declined by -2.5% during the month, bringing its year-to-date figure to +0.4%.
“Unless that drop in domestic freight volumes reverses in December, the chances of the segment following the international segment in posting declining volumes for 2019 are quite high,” said the report.
Asia-Pacific posted a decline of -1.5% in global freight volume for November, after a much more difficult month of October (-4%). Year-to-date results are still at -5.1%, having fallen much more than the other major regional markets in 2019.
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