2009 Passenger Traffic at North American Airports Decreases 5.7%2009 Passenger Traffic at North American Airports Decreases 5.7%
According to recent data released by ACI, based in Geneva, indicates
that 1.47 billion passengers arrived and departed from North American
airports in 2009, a 5.3 percent decrease from the previous year. Cargo
decreased by 11.3 percent while total operations also decreased by 8
percent.
"The economic downturn that plagued many industries in the past two
years has not spared aviation. Airports, however, are optimistic about
an increase in traffic as the economy begins to show signs of recovery,"
said ACI-NA President Greg Principato. "Industry forecasts indicate
that, despite a sluggish recovery, demand for air travel will grow.
There is still a critical need for airports to invest in infrastructure
projects to meet future demand. The system nearly bogged down three
years ago and current traffic is not far below that level. We know what
the breaking point is and we must not wait to get to work."
The four busiest airports were Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport with more than 88 million passengers, followed by
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (64 million), Los Angeles
International Airport (56.5 million), and Dallas/Ft. Worth International
Airport (56 million).
Memphis International Airport remained the largest cargo airport in
North America, handling about 3.7 million metric tons, which is
unchanged from last year's totals. Anchorage International Airport
ranked second in North America with a 15 percent decrease in its cargo
movements to nearly 2 million metric tons.
Atlanta continues to top the charts as the airport with the highest
number of total operations in North America with a total of 970,235
movements, a 0.8 percent decrease. Chicago ranked second, posting a 6.1
percent decrease in operations at 827,899 movements. Ranking third,
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport reported 638,782 movements, a
decrease of 2.7 percent.
Canada's most robust airport, once again, is Toronto's Lester B. Pearson
International Airport, ranked 19th in North America for passengers with
30.4 million, a decrease of 6.1 percent from 2008. It ranked 13 in total
cargo with 439,130 metric tons, a 9.1 percent decrease, and 15 in total
movements with 407,352, a decrease of 5.4 percent.