Singapore falls to 18th place in the world's busiest airports

The 6% growth of its passenger traffic lagged Guangzhou’s 10.3% and Delhi’s 14.1%.

Singapore airports fell from 17th to 18th place in the rankings for the busiest airports in the world, the Airports Council International (ACI) revealed.

According to a press release, despite their lower rank, Singapore airports enjoyed passenger traffic higher by 6% YoY at 62.22 million. Singapore airports got the sixth place amongst those with the most international passenger traffic in 2017 at 61.57 million, a 5.9% change from last year.

Delhi jumped from 22nd to 16th, with a 14.1% growth, solidifying its status as one of the fastest growing airports in the world for passenger traffic. Guangzhou in China, grew by 10.3% making it the second fastest growing airport among the top 20.

ACI revealed that passenger traffic at the world’s 20 busiest airports grew by 5.2% in 2017. “With almost 1.5 billion passengers passing through their terminals in 2017, this group of 20 represents 17% of global passenger traffic,” it added.

Total air cargo in Singapore also rose 7.9% YoY to 2.16 million metric tonnes. The ranking rose from 13th place to 12th place. Meanwhile, Singapore airports’ total international air freight traffic grew 7.9% YoY to 2.13 million. They ranked 7, up from 8 last year.

ACI noted that air cargo volumes at the 20 busiest airports grew by 6.8% in 2017. These airports handled a combined 51 million metric tonnes of cargo. This represents 43% of global air cargo volumes.

“Air cargo experienced a revival across many of the world’s airports in 2017 and into 2018. Even with the uncertainty regarding the threat of trade wars and the growth of protectionist sentiments across the world, business confidence has remained strong through inventory build-ups and increased export orders in 2017,” the group added.

Meanwhile, Singapore wasn’t in the top 20 of the airports with the highest number of aircraft movements.