Moderate airport traffic growth ends banner year

December passenger traffic rose by a moderate 4 percent relative to December 2009, yet despite the slower rate, world traffic finished at just over 6 percent growth for the year, according to the PaxFlash sample results.

For only the second time in 2010 (April and December), in all regions traffic growth remained below the 10 percent mark (Tables1 and 2). For December, the fastest growing region was the Middle East (+8.7%) where Dubai (+11.6%), Abu Dhabi (+10.9%) and Muscat (+18.2%) delivered double digit growth.

Africa performed well, reporting growth of 7.1 percent owing to strong demand to tourism destinations in Egypt, Tanzania and South Africa. Hurghada (Egypt) surged by 23.3 percent, Durban (South Africa) increased by 11.5 percent and Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) by 17.1 percent. Africa's largest airport, Johannesburg, reported 6.1 percent growth.

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