Page 29 - Planning and Design of Airports

10 Airp o r t Pl anning

Latin
Asia and North America and Middle
Year Pacific Europe America Caribbean Africa East
1972 8.4 35.9 47.6 4.4 2 1.7
1976 12.4 36.5 41 4.8 2.5 2.8
1980 15.5 35 38.6 5.5 2.6 2.8
1984 17.6 33 38 4.9 2.8 3.8
1988 19.8 31 39.3 4.6 2.2 3
1990 19.8 31.9 38.5 4.7 2.2 2.9
1992 21.2 27.3 41.8 4.7 2.2 2.8
2002 26.7 26.2 36.8 4.5 2.2 3.6
2005 33.2 25.4 30.3 4.3 2.1 4.7
TABLE 1-4 Percentage of Worldwide Distribution of Air Cargo Traffic

The air cargo market is forecast to triple between 2008 and 2030,
led by the growth of air freight demand to China, as illustrated by
the forecast percentage distribution of worldwide air cargo activity
in Table 1-4. It is forecast that increasing percentages of air cargo
would be shipped on dedicated cargo aircraft, requiring the need
for expanded exclusive air cargo facilities at airports throughout
the world.

General Aviation
General aviation is the term used to designate all flying done other
than by the commercial air service carriers. General aviation opera-
tions range from local recreational flying to global business trans-
port, performed on aircraft not operating under the federal aviation
regulations for commercial air carriers.
While, by definition, general aviation operations carry no
“commercial” passengers, it is estimated that more than 166 million
people traveled by general aviation on nearly 20 million flights in
2008. During 2007, general aviation accounted for nearly 75 percent
of all aircraft operations in the United States (source: FAA TAF). Gen-
eral aviation supports more than 1.3 million jobs and contributes
more than $103 billion annually to the United States economy.
As of 2008, there were approximately 225,000 general aviation
aircraft registered in the United States and an estimated 340,000 air-
craft worldwide (source: GAMA). These aircraft range in type and
size from small single-engine propeller aircraft to large jet aircraft, to