Asur: passenger numbers to grow

Mexican airport operator Asur expects 2004 passenger numbers to grow about 5 percent, half the rate of last year when war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak in Asia boosted US travel to Mexico, according to Reuters. Asur’s chief financial officer, Adolfo Castro, told the news service that passenger numbers at its nine airports in southeast Mexico would grow for the same reasons this year, but less vigorously. Asur handled 12.2 million passengers in 2003, up 10.8% from 2002. “US citizens are traveling shorter distances or not traveling,” Mr Castro said. “My personal opinion is that growth (in 2003) was circumstantial because of the events in the Middle East and because of SARS.” About 55 percent of Asur’s passengers are international travelers, and 90 percent of those are from the US or Canada. Cancun is by far its biggest airport, handling more than 70 percent of total passengers, according to Reuters. Report by David Wilkening