World airports are poised for a strong economic performance in 2004 after seeing a two percent increase in passengers and three percent in cargo last year, the head of the industry's global body ACI said on Monday.
ACI, the Geneva-based Airports Council International whose members include smaller domestic airfields as well as big international hubs terminals, hailed the 2003 figures as a good performance in difficult times for the air travel trade.
"In tough market conditions, our members coped with adversity and finished the year very strong," said ACI Director General Robert Aaranson. "We believe the industry is poised for a robust recovery in 2004."
The ACI figures contrasted with preliminary estimates issued in late January by IATA, the world airline body, which said passengers carried by its members on international routes were down by 2.4 percent over 2002.
ACI spokesman Paul Behnke said the organisation's own numbers included passengers carried by low-cost airlines, including those based in Europe and the United States, who accounted for much of the increase.
Most budget airlines - like Britain's Easyjet and Ireland's Ryanair - are not members of IATA, which does not include passengers they carry in its returns.
ACI said Europe, which accounted for just under one third of all travellers passing through airports in 2003, saw an increase of 4.2 percent, while North America, which accounts for nearly 40 percent of the global total, was up only 0.6 percent.
ASIA HIT BY SARS: Asia, hit especially badly by an epidemic of Sars - a flu-like disease that killed around 800 people in the first half of last year after spreading around the region from China, even as far as Canada - was down by one percent.
Announcing its preliminary figures on January 27, IATA - the International Air Transport Association - blamed the Iraq war, Sars, and the stuttering global economy for last year's downturn among its airlines.
For IATA members, who include over 90 percent of companies flying international routes, 2002 had seen an improvement over the disaster year of 2001, when air travel dropped sharply after the September 11 hijack attacks in the United States.