Announcing results following its acquisition of the Airports Worldwide portfolio in August, Vinci Airports said passenger traffic over a 12-month period had exceeded 180 million for the first time.

The 51.3 million passengers in Q3 2018 took total traffic for the 12-month period to 186.4 million, an increase of 7.8%. The uptick would have been even stronger but for weather- and earthquake-related disruptions at the three airports managed by Vinci in the Kansai region of Japan, leading to a 7% decrease in passenger numbers there.

Overall, traffic across the 44 platforms managed by Vinci reported a +2.8% increase in the third quarter relative to Q3 2017, with a record 51.3 million passengers handled by the company’s network. Excluding Japan, the growth rate was +6.1%.

The five U.S. airports now operated by Vinci under concession or full management contracts saw traffic increase 8.8% overall compared with Q3 2017, totalling 2.4 million passengers.

There were also positive results in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia, Costa Rica (+4.5%), Santiago airport in Chile (+6.2%) and Salvador airport in Brazil (+3.0%), while traffic was flat (–0.4%) at the six Vinci platforms in the Dominican Republic.

The group's three Cambodian airports posted strong growth, particularly at Phnom Penh (+21.6%) and Sihanoukville (+73%).

In Europe, the 10 Portuguese airports reported their best-ever summer season (+7%), while French airports saw a sharp increase in Q3 traffic (+8.5%), with 5.8 million passengers handled. In the UK, Belfast International Airport, which joined the Vinci network in September, handled close to 2 million passengers in the third quarter (+12.2%), driven by Ryanair's London Stansted route.