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The Airports Council International (ACI) has released global passenger traffic numbers that show an increase of 5.1% last year.

The data also projects growth rates of approximately 5.8% and 4.5% for both international and domestic traffic, respectively.

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ACI’s preliminary data revealed that despite the global uncertainties across various economies, passenger traffic remained resilient.

The geopolitical risks that persisted in certain parts of the country did not hamper the growth in numbers of international tourists. While the Ebola outbreak posed a risk, travellers seemed immune to the dangers.

"A rising trend was observed in the overall flow of exports and imports by sea, land and air, which was measured by world trade volumes in goods."

The global demand for foreign goods and commodities also saw a net rise which led to an increase in the air freight market. A rising trend was observed in the overall flow of exports and imports by sea, land and air, which was measured by world trade volumes in goods.

Air freight volumes saw an increase of 5.6% in December and an increase of 4.7% for the year as a whole. While international freight traffic increased by 5.7% annually, domestic freight increased by 2.6% on the year.

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Passenger traffic in Africa saw an increase of 3.2% in the year, while Asia saw a rise of almost 6%. Despite the economic uncertainties, Europe saw an increase of approximately 5%.

One of the regions to witness highest growth is the Latin American-Caribbean, which saw gains of more than 6% for the region owing to growing domestic markets of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

The Middle East saw maximum growth of approximately 9.4%.


Image: There was an overall growth of 5.1% in global passenger traffic last year. Photo: courtesy of CraHeX on freeimages.com.

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