Having achieved +13% increase in passengers, Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) has become the world's second busiest airport, according to news preliminary firgures from ACI.

Heathrow Airport, previously the world's second busiet airport, saw a -0.2% drop in passengers and has fallen to fourth after it was overtaken by Beijing and Chicago O'Hare (+3.3).

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains top of the rankings with (+1.5%), while Charlotte (+10.4%) was the only airport outside the Asia-Pacific and Middle East to achieve double digit growth.

International cargo performed well in 2010, increasing +15.2% compared with 2009, while passenger numbers were also up +6.3%, preliminary figures reveal.

Once again the Asia-Pacific region was the highest performer, recording a +14.2% rise in international passengers and a +18.6% increase in cargo tonnage.

Africa's international passenger traffic increased +8.8%, while the Middle East saw +11.5%. Latin America and the Carribbean enjoyed strong domestic traffic growth, particularly in Brazil.

Despite suffering from the effects of the Icelandic ash cloud and weather chaos caused by winter snow, Europe still managed to achieve passenger growth rates of +4.3% compared with 2009 and an impressive +17% rise in cargo.

ACI blamed a slow economic recovery and restraint of air carriers in adding domestic capacity for its modest growth in 2010 of +2.4%.

International freight was the driver of air freight recovery as total tonnage rose 20.5% compared with 2009.

"Passenger and freight growth clearly surpassed global GDP growth in 2010," said Angela Gittens, ACI World's director general. "GDP growth projections for this and the coming years are high creating a positive outlook for demand for air transport. This underpins the need to continue to expand and modernise airport infrastructure to maintain high standards of efficency and customer service," she added.

Summary: Premlinary results for 2010, compared to 2009: