Passenger traffic in the Middle East rose 4.2 per cent in October year-over-year as many airports posted positive growth rates, new data showed.

According to the monthly traffic report by ACI Asia-Pacific,  Bahrain generated the highest growth rate in October (up 23 per cent), followed by Muscat (up 14.2 per cent) and Beirut (up 11 per cent). Dubai, the largest hub in the region, grew by 2.1 per cent.

Across Asia-Pacific, passenger traffic climbed 4.8 per cent for the month, led by India, with approximately 9 per cent total passenger growth from last year.

The overall India market is showing signs of slowdown but the domestic sector maintained double-digit gain during October at around +11 per cent. The top three airports with the most total passenger volume growth were: Bangalore (up 24.3 per cent), Hyderabad (up 19.8 per cent) and Chennai (up 17.1 per cent).
 
In China, the general pace of growth continued to slow and total passenger traffic growth from last year was approximately up 7 per cent. The domestic sector in China experienced a slight uptick possibly benefited from the National Day Golden Week travels. The three airports with the most passenger volume increase from last year were Beijing (up 6.0 per cent), Guangzhou (up 6.3 per cent) and Chengdu (up 8.5 per cent).
 
Elsewhere in the region, a number of airports in Australia experienced sizable increase in international passenger traffic, possibly benefited from the timing of various national holidays. Sydney and Melbourne reported increases of 6.0 per cent and 8.4 per cent in international passenger growth, resulting in overall passenger growth of 3.3 per cent and +2.9 per cent respectively.
 
In terms of air freight, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East grew by 2.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively amid the ongoing trade disputes between China and the US. Among the major cargo hubs, Delhi (up 19.9  per cent) had the highest growth rate, followed by Doha (up 13.1 per cent) and Mumbai (up 11.1 per cent). - TradeArabia News Service