Heathrow ranked 3rd busiest airport worldwide by passenger numbers – still largest for international passengers

Figures for air transport movements and numbers of air passengers at airports worldwide, from ACI (Airports Council International) show that by number of passengers, Heathrow was the 3rd largest airport in 2012.  The busiest was Atlanta, with Beijing second. However, both Atlanta and Beijing have a large proportion of domestic passengers. Heathrow remains the world’s largest airport for international passengers, with Dubai in second place. In 2012, airports in Europe had 1.7% more passengers than in 2011, while there were 4% more air passengers, worldwide.  However, ACI figures show there was a fall of 0.2% in the number of aircraft movements worldwide, indicating use of larger planes and higher load factors, due to financial pressures. In terms of the number of aircraft movements, in 2012 Paris and Frankfurt  had slightly more than Heathrow (ranked 10th, 11th and 12th worldwide).  In terms of number of passengers, Heathrow was 3rd, Paris 7th, Frankfurt 11th and Amsterdam 15th.

Heathrow ranked third busiest airport worldwide

3.9.2013 (TravelMole)

Heathrow remains in the top five busiest airports but saw one of the smallest growths in 2012.

Europe only experienced a 1.7% growth last year compared to 13% in the Middle East, 8% in Asia Pacific, 7.6% in Latin American-Caribbean and 6.1% in Africa.

North America only grew by 1.3% in passenger numbers, according to ACI World’s 2012 World Annual Traffic Report.

But while Heathrow is ranked number three in terms of passenger numbers, its growth in 2012 was only 0.9%.

Atlanta in the US was ranked in first place and saw 3.4% growth, Beijing was second and saw 4.1% growth while Jakarta in ninth position and Dubai in tenth position saw growth of 12.1% and 13.2% respectively.

The report said 65% of airports worldwide saw passenger growth which averaged 7%.
Worldwide airport passenger numbers increased by 4.4% in 2012 to 5.7 billion.


Heathrow is the world’s busiest international hub airport, with Dubai second worldwide. , Dubai is expected to overtake Heathrow by 2015.  link


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Preliminary 2012 World Airport Traffic and Rankings

Passenger traffic up 4%; Cargo and Movements flat

26.3.2013 (ACI -Airports Council International)
MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC, CANADA

ACI preliminary traffic results, based on reports from over 1093 airports worldwide, indicate that global passenger traffic grew at a rate of 4 percent while cargo and aircraft movements were flat as compared to 2011.

Global passenger traffic has remained resilient in the face of global uncertainties and downside risks that plagued the global economy throughout 2012. While airports in the developed economies of Europe and North America experienced only modest gains in passenger traffic, with year-over-year growth of +1.7 and +1.2 percent respectively, air transport markets in emerging economies continue to show buoyant activity.

As many as five airports in emerging markets with over 40 million passengers reported double-digit growth rates. These airports include Istanbul (IST; +20.6), Dubai (DXB; +13.2), Jakarta (CGK; +12.1), Bangkok (BKK; +10.6) and Singapore (SIN; +10.0).

The volume of air cargo in 2012 remained more or less at 2010 and 2011 levels. Most regions remained relatively weak in relation to their year-over-year growth rates. Half of the airports in the top 30 busiest cargo airports experienced declines in 2012. With an overall contraction of -2.6 percent in cargo traffic across European airports, the only bright spot was Middle Eastern airports with year-over-year growth in the realm of +5 percent for the region as a whole in 2012.

ACI World’s Director of Economics Rafael Echevarne commented, “Although we saw slightly lower year-over-year growth rates in passenger traffic in 2012, from month to month as compared to 2011, the overall result for the year was in line with ACI forecasts, which factored in the slowdown in certain European and North American markets.

Air cargo had mixed results throughout 2012 with some months showing modest gains while other months posting declines. Amid the significant downside risks in the Euro area and the fiscal deadlock in the United States that remained omnipresent throughout the year, growth in the air cargo market came to an overall halt in 2012. As the global economy and international trade gradually picks up steam, we are optimistic to see stronger demand for air transport in the latter half of 2013.”

Airport Rankings

Atlanta (+3.3%) continues to be the world’s busiest airport, while Beijing (+4.1%) maintains second place. London Heathrow (+0.9%) remains in third while Tokyo Haneda (+6.7%) moves into fourth position. Chicago O’Hare (-0.1%) takes fifth place. Only three other airports in the top 30 experienced declines in passenger traffic in 2012, which include Madrid (-9.0%), Houston (-0.4%) and Phoenix (-0.3%). See tables 1, 2, 3.

SUMMARY: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR 2012 (compared with 2011 figures)


Total Passengers: +4.0%
Total International Passengers: +5.6%
Total Cargo (includes mail): 0.0%
Total International Freight: -0.1%
Total Aircraft Movements: -0.2%
Notes for Editors

1. ACI, the only worldwide association of airports, is a non-profit organization whose prime purpose is to represent the interests of airports and to promote professional excellence in airport management and operations. ACI has 580 members who operate over 1751 airports in 174 countries and territories.

2. For queries concerning the statistics, please contact Cheryl Marcell, Director Communications at ACI World cmarcell@aci.aero or James Roach, Communications Manager ACI World jroach@aci.aero

3. Please note that preliminary results are based on the submissions of over 1093 reporting entities. The final confirmed report, which will be published in summer 2013, will include any outstanding airport reports, and therefore figures are subject to variation
full details at the PDF of the full press release. – Airports Council International

ACI worldwide airport traffic summary

 

and
ACI  worldwide busiest airports 2012
and
ACI worldwide airports total passengers 2012
.full details at the PDF of the full press release. – Airports Council International

Tuesday, September 3, 2013
03 September 2013

London chief execs demand immediate action on airport capacity

Chief executives of 25 of London’s top businesses are to confront Sir Howard Davies today demanding immediate action to fix Britain’s airports capacity crisis.
Members of lobby group London First say that British business will suffer unless there is an immediate rise in the number of flights operating at Heathrow, an independent “noise regulator” to protect residents and investment to improve road and rail links to Stansted and Gatwick.
Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, told the Evening Standard: “Debating the pros and cons of new airports and runways is all very well. But the more pressing concern is what we are going to do right now to increase our connectivity with emerging markets and grow our economy.”
Among those attending the meeting will be bosses of CitiGroup, CLS Group, Nomura, Linklaters, Ernst & Young and 3i Group.
In December, Sir Howard will release an interim report proposing short-term solution to airport capacity before making his full report in 2015.