THE Asia-Pacific is set to claim the title of 1995's fastest-growing air traffic region when travel statistics are released by a Geneva-based monitoring group next month. The Airports Council International (ACI), representing more than 430 airports around the world, said passenger traffic for the first 11 months of last year grew most in this part of the world. The figures have led ACI director general Oris Dunham to call for governments in the Asia and Pacific to step up infrastructure development in the coming years as they are forecast to overtake traffic in North America and Europe by 2010. The group splits the Asia-Pacific into two monitoring areas, with the Pacific including Australasia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, San Francisco and Vancouver. Asia includes India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. ACI said its latest set of figures showed passenger traffic for the first 11 months of last year grew 8 per cent in the Pacific and 6 per cent in Asia, and the two were expected to show even stronger full-year growth, as December was a busy travel month. Cargo traffic was up 14 per cent in Asia and 10 per cent in the Pacific, giving credibility to predictions that Asia would lead the world in air traffic growth over the next 20 years. The Pacific topped the growth list for November, with passenger traffic rising 8.3 per cent to 29.63 million. The region saw a smaller rise in cargo traffic, with the number of tonnes handled increasing 3.5 per cent to 841,144 tonnes. Aircraft movements were up 1.8 per cent to 388,479. Asia also saw a large rise in passenger traffic in November, up 7.9 per cent to 5.22 million. It led all regions in cargo traffic, with the number of tonnes handled rising 15.7 per cent to 153,861 tonnes. The region also led in aircraft movements, jumping 8.2 per cent to 62,068. Europe saw a 6.4 per cent rise in passenger traffic for the month, to 47.08 million, and a similar rise in cargo volumes. The number of tonnes handled rose 6.6 per cent to 883,593. Aircraft movements rose 4.7 per cent to 887,767. North America recorded a 1.7 per cent rise in passengers for the month, to 82.33 million, and cargo volumes were nearly flat at 1.84 million tonnes, representing growth of just 0.4 per cent. Aircraft movements were down 0.3 per cent to 2.17 million. For the first 11 months of last year, passenger traffic grew 7 per cent in Europe and 3 per cent in North America. Passenger traffic growth was flat in Africa. It was also flat in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the region saw cargo volumes up 16 per cent. Cargo volumes rose 8 per cent in Europe and 3 per cent in North America but fell 14 per cent in Africa. The ACI said Hong Kong's Kai Tak was the 14th busiest airport in November, with 2.29 million passengers, representing passenger growth of 10.4 per cent over the same month in 1994. It was the fifth busiest cargo airport, handling 138,100 tonnes and representing growth of 5.8 per cent.
