Korean J Aerosp Environ Med.  1997 Mar;7(1):22-31.

Airport Disaster Medical Management & Role of Aviation in the Transportation of Disease

• Auffret R

Abstract

In 1995, 1.30 billion passengers (excluding C.I.S) were carried in civilian aircraft. The billion passenger mark has been reached for the first time in 1987. In 1975, this figure was 500 million, an increase of 100% over a twelve year period. The importance of the United States of America in aviation is illustrated by the fact that nearly half of all passengers carried worldwide passed through the twenty largest airports of United States. The only European airports to figure among the top ten in terms of passenger volume are LONDON (approximately 81 million passengers/year) PARIS (approximately 55 million passengers /year) and FRANCFORT (38 million passengers/year). Europe, in spite of its population, (approximately 500 million) has only about 20% of the world airline passenger traffic. The most spectacular growth in air transport in recent years, between 1985 and 1995, has been in ASIA (mainly in the South East part of that continent) with an average annual growth rate of over 10% over the past 10 years. The growth in European traffic over the same period has been 5% per annum. If the possibility of a major economic downturn or other serious international event is excluded then it has been forecast that passenger traffic is likely to pass the 2 billion mark a year by th,2 year 2005. But we must bear in mind the effects of the Gulf War on passenger transportation over the two years 1990-1991.

MeSH Terms

Aircraft
Airports*
Americas
Asia
Aviation*
Disasters*
Europe
Gulf War
Transportation*
United States