Air traffic has bottomed out, says AoT

       The downturn in air traffic through Thailand's main airports, including Suvarnabhumi Airport, shows signs of having bottomed out, with August's figures tipping into the black for the first time in eight months.
       Passenger traffic last month edged up by 2.44% over the same month last year to 4.62 million, while flight movements rose by 5.4% to 30,638, according to statistics from the Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT).
       Air cargo throughput also showed signs of improvement, contracting by 9.36% in August to 99,572 tonnes, compared to -16.52% in July.
       The growth in August signalled the beginning of a slow recovery for pas-senger traffic, which has plunged since last year's Bangkok airport blockade,prolonged domestic political unrest,global recession and the H1N1 flu outbreak, said an aviation industry analyst.
       Last month's figures showed an improvement over July, which recorded the smallest contraction for seven months, indicating the traffic slump might have bottomed out.
       August's passenger growth was driven by a 16.1% increase in domestic volume to 1.86 million, though international passenger traffic remained negative at -5.11%, or 2.75 million.
       Domestic flight growth followed the same pattern, up by 20.33% in August to 13,986 flights, while international flights fell by 4.55% to 16,652 flights.
       Both international and domestic cargo remained in the doldrums, contracting by 9.64% to 92,054 tonnes and 5.84% to 7,518 tonnes, respectively.
       Passengers for the first eight months were 12.55% fewer than the same period last year at 34.53 million. Combined aircraft movements fell 10.31% to 236,280 while cargo tonnage plunged by 23.66%to 697,154 tonnes.
       But aviation analysts are cautiously optimistic about the industry's outlook for the rest of the year, assuming there are no more political upheavals.
       The last quarter's high season and an improving global economy should boost flight and passenger volumes.
       AoT's best-case figures put 2009's total passenger traffic at last year's level of 54.04 million, with the negative forecast predicting a 10% decline from 2008.