Don Mueang flies high again

Don Mueang flies high again

Passengers clog up Don Mueang over the Lunar New Year holidays, helping the airport to record the highest growth rate in Asia-Pacific's passenger traffic in February. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiartpakun)
Passengers clog up Don Mueang over the Lunar New Year holidays, helping the airport to record the highest growth rate in Asia-Pacific's passenger traffic in February. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiartpakun)

Bangkok's Don Mueang has again recorded the highest growth rate among airports in Asia-Pacific including the Middle East in February, latest figures from the Airports Council International (ACI) show.

The airport posted a 57.5% rise in passenger throughput in the month as fast-growing low-cost carrier traffic continued to spur passenger volumes with the recovery of Thailand's tourism from a downturn caused by political unrest a year ago.

ACI did not provided Don Mueang's February passenger traffic, but Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) statistics  showed the airport handled 2.27 million passengers.

This followed on the heels of January's figures that showed the airport posted a robust 46.7% year-on-year growth in passenger traffic to 2.32 million.

For the whole of last year, Don Mueang led Asia-Pacific in passenger growth with a 30.8% rise, ahead of Chiang Mai and Abu Dhabi, which saw growth of 21.4% and 20.2%, an ACI tracking showed.

According to AoT, Don Mueang processed 1.62 million domestic passengers in February, up by 53.2%, and 649,578 international passengers, a 69.3% rise.

ACI said the seasonal passenger traffic surge during the Lunar New Year drove a 9.7% growth at Asia-Pacific airports in February, and 7% at airports in the Middle East.

In Asia-Pacific, many airports posted double-digit growth for the month. Tokyo Haneda recorded an outstanding 51.1% increase in international passenger, followed by Shanghai Pudong with 28.9%. Bangalore grew at 29.6% in overall passenger traffic for the month.

Middle East airport growth was led by Abu Dhabi with 21.5% and Doha 15.6%.

In February, air freight for the Asia-Pacific grew by 14.3% growth and the Middle East by 12.3%. Shanghai led Asia-Pacific with the highest growth rate of 23.6% while Dubai led the Middle East with a 37.8% rise.

For the first two months of this year, passenger traffic in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East recorded a year-on-year rise of 7% and 9.2% respectively. Freight volumes grew by 8.5% in Asia-Pacific and by 10.9% in the Middle East.

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