Global traffic growth ahead, but meeting demand won’t be easy

ACI World today released its traffic forecast for 2026 and beyond, and it looks good with 10.2 billion passengers expected to pass through the world’s airports this year, and 18.8 billion per annum by 2045.

The figures, which form part of the organisation’s World Airport Traffic Forecasts 2025–2054, are impressive with a period of sustained growth on the agenda.

However, ACI World notes that although demand shows structural strength, it is increasingly uneven across regions, with mounting capacity constraints.

Indeed, it points put that sustained growth is increasingly accompanied by:

• Capacity constraints, such as airport infrastructure limitations and aircraft delivery challenges.
• Uneven regional growth, with some markets significantly outperforming while others structurally lag.
• Operational complexity, driven by supply-chain disruptions, geopolitical uncertainty and sustainability imperatives.

As a result, ACI World is calling for collective action to ensure that the aviation industry is able to meet its potential over the coming decades.

“The forecast sends a clear signal to the global aviation community: long-term growth is not guaranteed without co-ordinated action,” says ACI World director general Justin Erbacci.

“To accommodate rising demand, the industry must accelerate investment in airport infrastructure, airspace capacity, and operational resilience, while strengthening collaboration across airports, airlines, governments, regulators, and industry partners.

“Without collective action, capacity constraints jeopardise the industry’s ability to meet the projected demand and create operational bottlenecks, directly affecting the quality and reliability of the passenger journey.

“At the same time, insufficient investment to meet the projected demand would result in missed economic development opportunities at regional and national levels. Aviation plays a central role in global economic development [accounting for 3.9% of global GDP according to ATAG].

“Ensuring the sector can sustainably absorb future demand growth is therefore not only an industry priority, but a global economic imperative.”