Airports Council International (ACI) reported (01-Feb-2021) its long term traffic forecast shows the recovery path in Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions will be "slow and uncertain", with a diverse demand recovery pattern. The two regions will be the fastest-growing globally out to 2040, according to ACI, with total passenger traffic projected at a compound growth rate of 5.2% in the Middle East and 4.7% in Asia-Pacific.
- Asia Pacific outlook:
- 2020 traffic down 58% year-on-year;
- Recovery to 2019 pre-COVID passenger volume of approximately 3.4 billion passengers by 2023;
- Recovery to 2019 pre-COVID freight volume of 47 million tonnes by 2022;
- Fastest growing countries will be Indonesia, India, Vietnam, the Philippines and China;
- Middle East outlook:
- 2020 traffic down 58% year-on-year;
- Forecast to close 2020 with a passenger traffic decline of about 72%;
- Recovery to 2019 pre-COVID passenger volume of approximately 405 million passengers by 2024;
- Recovery to 2019 pre-COVID freight volume on nine million tonnes by 2022;
- Fastest growing countries will be Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran. [more - original PR]