2018 horoscope (with one 'R')
It's all relative, I'm not depressed about 2018. I do agree that it will be something of a consolidation year but I doubt it will be 'one step back' following several forward. It's been a heady decade so far, from the low point of 17.7 million pax in 2010. The tyre smoke from the first A380 touchdown that September (7 years ago tomorrow) lit the blue touch paper for rocketing traffic growth. It's been breathtaking, adding almost 10 mppa in just 7 years. Now at 27.5 mppa rolling total it takes just around 3.5% growth year on year to add another million, that's about half the growth rate we've seen this decade and still very likely in 2018, meaning 30 mppa by the time the T2 extension opens in early 2020, maybe even a year before that. It can be achieved without more based aircraft, incremental additional off-peak non-based flying by existing airlines. I would watch the skies over India for a new bright comet, perhaps, or even a fourth daily whale. The East is most likely to bring new arrivals for now, I think. The North Atlantic waters have become crowded with convoys, and when a Pound equals a Dollar someone's gonna get their feet wet.