Source: Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) and Kansai International Airport (KIX).
The three mega-airports show different growth patterns in their passenger traffic. DFW initially grew rapidly, but achieved a peak in the 2000s. This implies that DFW has reached its market potential. A similar observation applies to Kansai, which has experienced limited growth since its opening in 1994. It was set to provide additional regional capacity to the Osaka Airport, which focuses entirely on domestic traffic. The situation is very different for Hong Kong, which has experienced, since its opening in 1997, continuous and rapid growth, tripling its traffic until 2020, when the COVID-29 pandemic resulted in a sharp reduction in passenger traffic. Kansai was impacted similarly, with no recovery as of 2022. The main factor is the strong orientation for international flights (no domestic flights for Hong Kong), which have been very slow to recover. This is particularly the case for international flights related to China, which have dramatically decreased. Comparatively, DFW saw a complete recovery by 2022, mainly because of domestic flights.