May 2019: Passengers up 1.8% in Asia-Pacific and down -0.1% in Middle East

Passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific recorded a moderate growth at +1.8% and a slight decline at -0.1% in the Middle East.
 
In China, both the domestic and international segments showed signs of improvement this month, likely due to the increase in vacation travels during national holidays. The three airports with the most passenger volume increase from last year were Shanghai Pudong (PVG) +6.7%, Chengdu (CTU) +6.7% and Shenzhen (SZX) +6.0%.
 
In India, passenger traffic continued to trend downward this month but the pace of decline decelerated especially in the domestic sector as the market adjusted to the impact of the service suspension of Jet Airways. Mixed results were recorded among the large airports: Delhi (DEL) -10.5%, Mumbai (BOM) -9.8% and Bangalore (BLR) +6.2%.
 
Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, airports in Japan and Korea enjoyed robust growth, likely benefited from a boost in tourism during national holidays in Japan and China. Tokyo Narita (NRT), Osaka Kansai (KIX) and Seoul Incheon (ICN) grew at +6.2%, +9.6% and +6.8% respectively. 
 
In the Middle East, the overall passenger traffic growth was flat at -0.1%.  Dubai (DXB), the largest hub in the region, declined -21.1% this month as one of the two runways was closed for refurbishment since mid-April. On the other hand, Doha (DOH) experienced strong growth at +14.7% and appeared to be gradually recovering to its throughput levels before the diplomatic crisis.
 
In terms of air freight, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East declined at -5.7% and -4.0% respectively amid the ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, and weak global trade volumes. Whilst most major freight hubs reported negative growth in May, a number of airports managed to generate positive growth, led by Guangzhou (CAN) +4.8%, Doha (DOH) +2.9% and Shenzhen (SZX) +2.8%.