India is 3rd largest market for air passenger traffic

During the 11th Annual Airport Economics & Finance Conference & Exhibition in London, Airports Council International (ACI), the global trade association of the world’s airports, published its preliminary world airport traffic rankings covering passenger traffic, cargo volumes, and aircraft movements. According to it, India is the world’s 3rd largest aviation market for passenger traffic, trailing only behind U.S. and China for the year 2018.

This obviously portends well for the thriving airport media business in the country.

India’s move towards a more liberalized aviation market along with a stronger economy is seen as one of the factors that helped the country become one of the fastest-growing aviation markets, with air traffic growing rapidly in a relatively short time. In the total passenger traffic count for 2018, Delhi’s ranking went up to the 12th position from 16th in 2017 with a 10.2% change in passenger traffic growth.

According to the ACI, passenger traffic remained resilient in 2018 and is estimated to have reached 8.8 billion, growing by an estimated 6% as compared to the previous year. This increase is above the 4.3% compound annual growth rate for passenger traffic from 2007 to 2017.

“It is heartening to see that global passenger traffic growth has remained resilient in the face of an increasingly tense and challenging geopolitical climate,” ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said. “Aviation is strongly linked to the global economy and to local development. However, the protectionist rhetoric that has swept several Western countries will continue to restrain growth in the efficient flow of people, goods and services,” she said.

“With the cost of travel decreasing in many markets, and a burgeoning middle class growing in emerging markets, passenger traffic growth has remained irrepressible. Indeed, ACI’s global medium-term forecasts reveal growth in demand for air services between 2018 to 2023 will grow by almost 30%. This means many national governments face the predicament of demand outstripping available airport infrastructure,” she added on a cautionary note.