For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry
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LUXEMBOURG–()–Corporación América Airports S.A. (NYSE: CAAP), (“CAAP” or the “Company”) the largest private sector airport operator in the world by number of airports, reported today a 98.3% decline year-over-year passenger traffic in April 2020. Passenger Traffic, Cargo Volume and Aircraft Movements Highlights Statistics Apr’20(2) Apr’19(1)(2) % Var. YTD’20(1)(2) YTD’19(1)(2) % Var. Domestic Passengers (thousands) 67 3,734 -98.2% 9,927 15,279 -35.0% International P
Portuguese airports traffic increased by 6.2% in the first quarter of the year to over 11 million passengers, compared to the same period of 2018.
According to figures by Vinci Airports, which owns ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, passenger traffic in Portuguese airports rose 5.8% in the past 12 months to 55.9 million passengers.
“In Portugal, traffic growth was particularly sharp in Faro (+12.3%) and Porto (+9.5%), reflecting the country’s continuous popularity amongst foreign tourists”, Vinci Airport said in a statement.
“At the Lisbon hub, traffic grew by 4.2%, despite the high base for comparison and the current capacity constraints”, the statement added.
The company also pointed out that there had been solid traffic growth (+6.4%) at the airports managed by Vinci Airports in the first quarter of 2019.
This airport has now become the world’s 12th busiest airport, moving up four places from the 16th spot in 2017. According to the preliminary world airport traffic rankings for 2018 released by the Airports Council International (ACI), it over took mega-hubs like Frankfurt, Dallas Forth Worth, Guangzhou and Istanbul Ataturk airports.
The four airports above the IGI Airport are Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Shanghai Pudong and Hong Kong, managing over 46 lakh passengers more than IGIA. The airport ranked busier than all these might surprise – it’s New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
“India became the world’s third-largest aviation market in terms of passenger throughput, behind the US and China, in 2018. India’s move towards a more liberalized aviation market and the nation’s strengthening economic fundamentals have helped it become one of the fastest-growing markets with its traffic growing rapidly in a relatively short time,” read the statement by ACI.
The ACI’s World Airport Traffic Forecasts also predicts the country will represent the third largest aviation market in terms of passenger throughput after the US and China by 2020.
As per the rankings released by the ACI, the GMR-group-run airport has solidified its status as one of the fastest growing airports in the world for passenger traffic. Only Seoul’s Incheon International with 10 percent point growth was close to Delhi in terms of passenger growth. The Incheon International airport has secured the 16th place in 2018.
The ACI report said the IGI airport saw 69 million domestic and international flyers in 2018, which is 10.2 percent points higher than the combined passengers of 2017. Passenger traffic in advanced economies grew 5.2 percent while in emerging economies it rose 10.3 percent in 2017.
ACI World Director General-Angela Gittens said while strong competitive forces continue to drive innovation and improvements in efficiency and service for passengers, airports face the challenges of meeting the continuing global growth in demand for air services.
The ACI, founded in 1991, is the trade association of the world’s airports, currently serving 641 members operating from 1,953 airports across 176 countries.
“It is expected that rising incomes in emerging markets will help propel global traffic to new heights in the coming decades as new aviation hubs begin to overtake the more mature markets of Western Europe and North America,” ACI said.
The early days of the summer season see Budapest Airport welcoming two new connections with Wizz Air as the home-based carrier launches links to London Gatwick and Oslo.
Supporting the advancement of the Hungarian gateway, the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) added a daily service to London Gatwick on Sunday, which sees Budapest offer over 100,000 seats to the UK’s second-largest airport (in terms of passenger traffic) during S19.
Today, the ULCC also launched the airport’s third operation to Oslo, adding to Budapest’s growing connection with Norway’s capital city.
Seeing a 35% increase in flights to Oslo during the summer season, Wizz Air will offer close to 200 services in total to the Scandinavian country as the latest service joins the airline’s existing links to Stavanger.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for February 2019 showing total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 5.3%, compared to February 2018. This was the slowest rate of growth in more than a year but still in line with long-term demand trends. Monthly capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 5.4%, and load factor slipped 0.1 percentage point to 80.6%, which is still high by historic standards.
“After January’s strong performance, we settled down a bit in February, in line with concerns about the broader economic outlook. Continuing trade tensions between the US and China, and unresolved uncertainty over Brexit are also weighing on the outlook for travel,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
| February 2019 (% year-on-year) |
World share1 | RPK | ASK | PLF (%-pt)2 |
PLF (level)3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Market | 100.0% | 5.3% | 5.4% | -0.1% | 80.6% |
| Africa | 2.1% | 2.8% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 70.4% |
| Asia Pacific | 34.5% | 6.3% | 5.8% | 0.4% | 82.6% |
| Europe | 26.7% | 7.3% | 7.7% | -0.3% | 81.5% |
| Latin America | 5.1% | 5.0% | 5.5% | -0.4% | 81.3% |
| Middle East | 9.2% | -0.9% | 2.7% | -2.6% | 72.6% |
| North America | 22.4% | 4.2% | 3.9% | 0.3% | 80.8% |
nternational Passenger Markets
February international passenger demand rose 4.6% compared to February 2018, which was a slowdown from 5.9% growth in January. Capacity climbed 5.1%, and load factor dropped 0.4 percentage point to 79.5%. Airlines in all regions but the Middle East showed traffic growth versus the year-ago period.
Domestic Passenger Markets
Domestic travel demand rose 6.4% in February compared to February 2018, down from 7.4% annual growth in January. All markets except Australia reported increases in traffic, with India recording its 54th consecutive month of double-digit percentage growth. Domestic capacity climbed 5.8%, and load factor edged up 0.5 percentage point to 82.4%.
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The Bottom Line
“While overall economic confidence appears to be softening, aviation continues to deliver solid results, helping to sustain global commerce and the movement of people. The Brexit deadline has come and gone with no separation agreement, but with vital air connectivity between the UK and the Continent maintained for the present. Temporary measures, however, are no substitute for a comprehensive Brexit package that will ensure that the Business of Freedom is able to play its vital role in contributing to the well-being of the region—and the world,” said de Juniac.
Read the full February Passenger Traffic Analysis (pdf)
A Panel discussion is ongoing and a packed program are planned today for delegates in Sai Island, Cabo Verde attending the First UNWTO/ ICAO Ministerial Conference Tourism and Air Transport.
Air Transport and Tourism Policies: Regulatory convergence to maximize and balance their benefits
Air Transport and tourism depend heavily on each other and are essential engines of trade and economic growth for both developed and developing countries.
Despite the synergies, there can be conflicts between aviation and tourism policies due to the difficulties of States in balancing the interests of their airlines and the optimum development of their tourism industries. Separate sectorial policies result in a fundamental disconnect, which constitutes a severe deterrent towards the development of both sectors. How do we enhance policy coherence between the two sectors, harmonize the regulatory frameworks, and prevent separate sectoral policies? How can we strike a balance to maximize the overall benefits of tourism and air transport in the national economy?
What is the current status of Africa’s regulatory framework and what is its impact on tourism and air transport (the Lomé Declaration and the related Action plans both for Air Transport and for Tourism?
How can Africa benefit from and implement the joint UNWTO and ICAO Medellín Statement on Tourism and Air Transport for Development? How can the African Governments promote cooperation and compatible decision-making among transport and tourism authorities and other ministries in charge of related portfolios, including finance, economic planning, energy, environment and trade?
What are the challenges encountered by tourism stakeholders in reflecting tourism business interests in national and regional air transport policies?
Connectivity and Seamless Travel: Best practices to serve tourists and passengers
Aviation and tourism are a customer-focused economic sector.
While there is no single definition of air connectivity, it can be viewed as the ability of a network to move passengers involving the minimum of transit points, which makes the trip as short as possible with optimal passenger satisfaction at the minimum price possible. The realization of seamless travel can improve overall travel experience, which in turn fuels tourism demand.
With the recent launching of the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM), open skies over Africa may soon be a reality, building the necessary regulatory framework to increase international intra-Africa travel.
How do we optimize the flow of passenger traffic through the air transport system? How can we generate sufficient demand for direct air services between African sub-regions, especially between the East-West coasts?
How well do current air service agreements (ASAs) contribute to connectivity and what are the prospects of air transport liberalization? What constitute the bottlenecks and slowdowns of seamless travel in the air transport system? What regulatory schemes can be used or developed to assure essential air services to Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)?
What are the existing best practices and how could they be extended and adapted to other regions? What are the factors influencing airline choices for different market segments (the intercultural dimension)?
Funding and Financing for Development: Pragmatic measures to build a transparent, stable and predictable investment climate
Infrastructure deficiencies in the aviation and tourism sectors have long been an issue in Africa. While plans are in place to develop and modernize aviation infrastructure, relief is years away at best.
In the meantime, there will be lost opportunities for creating jobs and spurring economic growth. Another issue is the proliferation of taxes on tourism and air transport despite the fact that the industry recovers a vast majority of its own infrastructure costs through payments of user charges, rather than being financed through taxation.
Revenue raised by taxes can often be outweighed by the relinquished economic benefits as a result of dampened demand for air travel.
This Session will focus on
a) the creation of good governance and enabling the environment to build business confidence and encourage investments, and
b) the consolidation of planning and development efforts for aviation and tourism infrastructure in multi-modal and urban planning initiatives. What are the challenges of financing development projects related to the tourism and air transport sectors, particularly in LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS?
What are the success stories in financing tourism and air transport projects? How do consumers perceive taxes, charges, and others levies and how to ensure transparency of taxes and charges to passengers and tourists?
Why is the limited volume of international public finance and assistance for development currently available for aviation and tourism infrastructure projects?
Travel Facilitation: Advancing visa facilitation in supporting economic growth
Travel facilitation aims at maximizing the efficiency of border clearance formalities while achieving and maintaining high-quality security and effective law enforcement. Allowing passengers/tourists to cross international borders safely and efficiently contributes significantly to stimulating demand, enhancing the competitiveness of States, creating jobs and fostering international understanding.
In spite of the great strides made in recent decades in facilitating tourist travel in Africa, there is still room for considerable progress. For example, electronic visa processes and delivery could make travel more accessible, convenient, and more efficient without a diminution of national security.
States should also look into increasing cooperation on bilateral, regional and international travel facilitation regimes. How can new technologies be used to make travel more accessible, convenient and efficient? How to define and implement policies which facilitate international travel and tourism while ensuring the security and integrity of traveler identification and border controls?
How well do e-passports, e-visas and other documentation deal with emergent threats to security? How could the African States learn from other effective best practices?
While the adoption of technology has improved passenger satisfaction across the airport journey, the biggest jump by far over the past year was at baggage collection. 2019 Passenger IT Insights shows that passengers are demanding more mobile services in relation to their baggage and where these are available, satisfaction levels have surged.
The research shows that 26% of passengers in 2018 used their mobile device to receive status updates on their baggage at arrival, up from 14% in 2017. At the same time, there is a growing demand from passengers to receive more baggage information via their mobile devices. A majority of passengers said they would definitely use mobile notifications providing information on baggage at arrival while a similar proportion said they would use their mobiles to track their bags or to report mishandled baggage.
These mobile services have dramatically improved passenger satisfaction levels. In 2018, those travelers who used their mobile to receive updates at baggage collection were 8.6% more satisfied than those who relied on traditional voice announcements or flight information screens for information. In fact, those who relied on traditional voice or screen announcements for updates ranked baggage collection as one of the lowest points in their journey while those receiving mobile updates perceived this step as one where they were most satisfied.
Peter Drummond, Director of Baggage at SITA, said: “Today airports and airlines are increasingly tracking bags at key points across their journey. While this tracking data is primarily used to provide better oversight of baggage and reduce mishandling, many operators are providing some, or all, of this information to passengers as a mobile service. This is being done either through the airline or airport mobile app or other notifications such as SMS.
“As we have seen from the survey, this service has a tremendously positive impact on passengers’ airport experience. It provides a significant positive boost to the way they perceive their travel, while reducing anxiety around baggage. It is a strong endorsement of the benefits of baggage tracking in addition to the improvements in mishandling rates we have already seen where tracking solutions are in place,” said Drummond.
A potential force driving adoption of mobile baggage services is the growing number of checked bags in 2018.
Drummond added: “More than 4.3 billion bags were checked in by passengers globally. This is an average of 1.2 bags per person, up from 1.08 bags per passenger in 2017. The rise in checked baggage is likely to drive demand for more services as passengers want to know where their bags are at all times. Those airports that track bags across the journey are well placed to offer this service.”
The key findings of the report are based on a survey of passengers from 20 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, representing over 70% of global passenger traffic.
The journey of Gianfranco Battisti, CEO of Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane (FS), to the United States would have borne its first fruits in the definition of the new company for Alitalia, but so far nothing is definite.
Delta Airlines, in fact, should officially join the new Alitalia, but with an initial share of only 10%. The commitment signed with the managing director of FS doubles over the next four years to satisfy the industrial plan still being defined.
The managing director of Delta, Ed Bastian, would, therefore, have confirmed the interest for a percentage of shares similar to those already held in Air France-KLM, even if now FS will have to increase its participation up to 40%.
The US carrier, in fact, will guarantee its gradual investment to the point of controlling 20% as long as the new company makes profits, a scheme that follows the operation that Delta has already successfully experienced with Aeroméxico (from 19 to 49% in the past few years.)
According to the Italian press, the Battisti-Bastian confrontation would have focused on the shares of the new team, its shareholders, and governance, while the definition of the industrial aspects of the plan will need more time. As a result, a further postponement of the presentation of the Alitalia business plan is expected to be scheduled for next March 31.
easyJet’s second thought
In a peremptory tone through a press release, easyJet definitively closes the door on a possible entry into Alitalia. “Following the conversations with FS and Delta Air Lines for the creation of a consortium that evaluated the options for future Alitalia operations, easyJet decided to withdraw. However, the airline told the Adnkronos agency of its intentions to confirm its commitment to Italy and to continue to invest in the three airports of Milan, Naples, and Venice as done in recent years, adding routes and capabilities.”
The NewCo scheme
In the new Alitalia, therefore, 50% would be controlled by FS and Delta and another 15% would be due to MEF (the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finances) through the conversion of a bridge loan. It remains to be clarified how the remaining 35% would be divided. According to the newspaper Il Messaggero, in fact, Battisti would have obtained from the Treasury the availability of Fincantieri to cover 10-15%, while an additional 20% would remain to be covered (there are talks again of CDP – Italian National Promotional Institution) or Poste ( the state mail company) through some subsidiary companies. The new Alitalia could start with a capital requirement of around 1 billion euros.
While waiting for its future to be defined, Alitalia states to have recorded a 2.7% increase in passenger numbers on intercontinental routes compared to the same month of the previous year. And passenger revenue traffic is up by 1.2% on long-haul flights compared to the same period in 2018.
February cargo revenue, as stated by Alitalia, also increased by 4.9%. The results obtained on intercontinental routes have contributed to overall revenues, allowing Alitalia to record for the fifteenth consecutive month, growth in total passenger traffic turnover.
MEDIA CONTACT: Fraport AG, Torben Beckmann, Corporate Communications, Media Relations, 60547 Frankfurt, Germany, E-mail: t.beckmann@fraport.de
