London’s Heathrow, which has operated close to the capacity of its two runways since the start of the decade, boosted passenger numbers to just short of 75m last year as airlines deployed bigger jets to beat the cap on flights. Europe’s busiest hub added 1.6m passengers, a 2.2% gain, even as plane movements increased just 0.3%, it said Monday. By the year’s end, more than 20 Airbus Group SE A380 superjumbos were landing every day, helping to lift the average number of seats per flight to 209. UK PM David Cameron has delayed a decision on whether to allow the construction of a third runway at Heathrow until after London’s mayoral election later this year. The airport says it needs a new strip to lift passenger numbers above 135m by 2050, while opponents say the GBP18b plan is too costly and will increase noise in a heavily urban area.<br/>
general
China, which needs $1t worth of aircraft over the next 20 years, has under-ordered by some 750 planes over the next decade, the chief executive officer of lessor Avolon Holdings said, suggesting more orders lie ahead for Boeing and Airbus. "The Chinese market is driven by demographics," Domhnal Slattery said Monday. "Quite simply, if we look at Asia there’s 600m to 700m in the middle class. That’s going to grow in the next 20 years to 2.6b people. That’s 400% growth." China’s Bohai Leasing completed its $7.6b acquisition of the Avolon over the weekend, paving the way for the formation of the world’s fourth-largest air lessor by asset value. With Boeing and Airbus projecting China to become the world’s largest air travel market over the next 20 years, plane-leasing companies in China have been mentioned as parties to more than $16b worth of mergers and acquisitions since last year. Rapid growth of air travel in Asia is lifting orders for Boeing and Airbus, with China forecast to soon surpass the US as the world’s largest plane market. <br/>
Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest by international traffic, experienced an 8.1% increase in passenger numbers in November. Traffic rose to 6.01m passengers from 5.57m a year earlier, taking the total so far in 2015 to 70.96m, up 10.9%. The largest increase in passenger numbers came from the Indian subcontinent from where new flights were launched, while the most significant growth was driven by Eastern Europe and North America, the latter where Emirates added new destinations. Air freight volumes rose 3.8% in the month to 218,323 tonnes. Some cargo operations have moved to Al Maktoum International -- Dubai World Central (DWC).<br/>
The decline in global demand for air freight may be bottoming out, with cargo volumes growing month-on-month in November, IATA said. Air freight volumes were down 1.2% in November compared with a year earlier, but total cargo volumes were up when compared with October 2015, IATA said. "Although the headline growth rate fell again, and the global economic outlook remains fragile, it appears that parts of Asia-Pacific are growing again and globally, export orders are looking better," IATA DG Tony Tyler said.<br/>
Thai tourism revenue is forecast to grow nearly 9 percent to touch THB2.4 trillion baht (USD$66.12 billion) this year, on the back of increased focus on visitors from the ASEAN region and domestic travel. The revenue forecast is higher than the earlier projection of THB2.3t baht for this year, and up from last year's THB2.21t. "We will focus on domestic and ASEAN markets. We will need to work out ways for visitors to stay here longer and spend more," Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said. Kobkarn said Thailand would add new tourist attractions, increase flights and encourage more conventions this year to boost numbers. "Tourism is considered the only engine that is still driving the economy," said Ittirit Kinglek, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand.<br/>
China is sinking billions into building new airports this year. According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country will invest about US$11.7b this year in the construction of civil aviation infrastructure. The agency said it will step up construction of important new airports, including those in Beijing, Chengdu, Qingdao, Xiamen and Dalian. In addition, 11 key infrastructure projects and 52 upgrades or expansion work on civil aviation facilities will be started this year. The agency also said that work on Beijing’s second international airport, the largest construction project in Chinese civil aviation history, is progressing well. The airport is scheduled to be completed in Jun 2019 and to become operational in December that year. In all, China plans to build 66 new civil airports in the next five years, taking the number of such airports on the Chinese mainland from 206 to 272. The agency said that this is in respond to rising demand for air travel.<br/>
Worldwide Flight Services will acquire Consolidated Aviation Services, the airline ground handling company announced Monday, in a deal that will expand WFS operations in the US. The acquisition is the first big purchase since Paris-based WFS was bought by Platinum Equity LLC last October. The California-based private equity firm said at the time that it would back a global growth strategy for WFS, one of the world’s largest air cargo handlers. Financial terms of the CAS acquisition, which will face antitrust review by regulators in the US, were not disclosed.<br/>