Phuket was one of the few airports in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East that recorded substantial growth in passenger traffic in April, says Airports Council International (ACI).
Thailand's third-busiest airport saw its April passenger volume rise by 21.7% year-on-year. Two other airports, Nanjing and Bengaluru, also made gains of 20%-plus, at 28.5% and 21.5%, respectively.
April saw Phuket handle 1.26 million passengers, consisting of 687,328 in international numbers (up 25.5%) and 581,008 domestic (up 17.5%), according to separate statistics from Airports of Thailand Plc.
Across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, ACI reported that passenger traffic growth in April was sturdy but appeared to have moderated after a strong first quarter.
Asia-Pacific made a 7.3% gain on the month, while the Middle East saw a 9.7% jump. Among the larger hubs in Asia-Pacific and Middle East, most airports recorded positive gains. At the top were Delhi (+20.8%), Tokyo Haneda (+9.7%) and Singapore (+9.2%).
Air freight volume was largely stagnant in April for Asia-Pacific, which posted a marginal increase of 1.3%. Growth in the Middle East remained solid at 4.9%.
Modest year-on-year increases were reported by the three biggest air freight hubs in Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong (+1.2%), Shanghai (+0.6%) and Incheon (+1.2%).
Among Asia-Pacific airports, Singapore generated the highest growth at 7.2%. The picture in the Middle East was mixed: while Dubai and Dubai World Central delivered growth of 4.8% and 2.6% respectively, Doha expanded by 19%.