IF AIRPORTS everywhere seem busier, they are.

In October, major airports worldwide handled more than 223 million people - 6 per cent more than during the same month last year, said Airports Council International (ACI).

The global trade association of the airport community added that the total tally for the first 10 months of the year was 2.17 billion, 5.6 per cent higher than during the January-October period last year.

It recorded an almost 8 per cent jump in October over the same month last year, said the group, which has 573 members operating over 1,640 airports in 178 countries.

Domestic traffic grew by a more modest 4.4 per cent in the same period of comparison.

The data comes from members that provide ACI with monthly traffic updates. The business they handle accounts for more than 60 per cent of global air traffic.

The strong growth means 'unprecedented challenges', said Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) director-general and chief executive officer Lim Kim Choon.

Speaking at the Singapore Aviation Academy on Tuesday, he said: 'Crucial among these are concerns surrounding aviation safety, security and environmental protection.'

But even as the industry seeks to address gaps and deficiencies in the current system, it provides good opportunities for training institutions like the 50-year-old academy.

To position itself to play an even bigger role in the training of airport executives, the Singapore Aviation Academy, which has trained more than 41,000 people from over 190 countries, has set up a new 10-member advisory board to help oversee and plan training programmes and expansion strategies.

Led by former CAAS director-general Wong Woon Liong, the other members include Professor Adib Kanafani, 65, an aviation specialist from the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor Graham Braithwaite, 35, who heads the air transport department at Britain's Cranfield University.

Prof Kanafani said of the challenges facing the industry: 'There is growth everywhere, there are new issues like the environment that the industry has to deal with.'

'And, more and more, airports are finding they have to become business enterprises as well.'