KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 13): Global airport passenger traffic rose  6.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) in October 2017, according to Airports Council International (ACI) World.

In a statement yesterday, ACI said the 6.4% was significantly higher than the September comparison figure of 5.1% growth.

It said that similarly, passenger traffic grew 6.4% year-to-date as of October 2017. 

“Based on the trend, we can expect the global passenger market to achieve an annual growth rate of 6.5% in 2017, about the same rate as 2016,” it said.

ACI said freight volume gains have maintained momentum after a rapid increase during Q2 and Q3, reaching 5.3% y-o-y.

It said air freight numbers will likely exceed 7% global growth by the end of 2017, almost double 2016's 4%.

On passenger traffic, ACI said despite the strong rise on the global scale, there were signs of moderating growth across several regions since September.

It said Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe showed significant traffic growth for the month compared to the same month last year, but North America, Latin America-Caribbean and the Middle East experienced more modest gains.

ACI said the former reached +8.2%, +8.1% and +7.5% respectively, while the latter posted figures of +4.3%, +3.6% and +3.3%, respectively.