Arab News, Sunday, May 14, 2023 | Shawwal 24, 1444
Aviation hubs in UAE, Saudi Arabia to drive passenger traffic recovery in Mideast
Saudi Arabia,
Emirates:
Key aviation hubs in the UAE and Saudi
Arabia are forecast to drive a full recovery of passenger traffic in the Middle
East in 2024, with the region set to grow by 4.2 percent annually through to
2040, speakers at the Global Airport Leaders Forum said.
Industry leaders discussed the probability of the
region spearheading the global aviation market in terms of passenger traffic
recovery, fueled primarily by aviation hubs like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and key cities
in Saudi Arabia
The Middle East is currently leading the traffic
numbers in terms of global recovery with 93 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels, said
Kashif Khalid, regional director of the International Air Transport
Association, during the forum, Khaleej Times reported.
On May 9, Dubai Airports, which owns and manages
the operation of both Dubai International and Dubai World Central
airports, revised its 2023 forecast upward to 83.6 million passengers.
Dubai’s main airport DXB registered a 55.8 percent
increase in passenger traffic in the first quarter of this year compared to the
same period of last year, reaching 95.6 percent of 2019 levels.
The operator said it welcomed around 21.3 million
passengers in the first three months of 2023.
The UAE welcomed around 31.8 million
passengers across all airports in the first quarter of this year, an increase
of 11.48 million passengers compared to the same period last year.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz
International Airport in Jeddah alone handled over 2 million passengers since
the beginning of Ramadan.
This came after the Kingdom witnessed a 82 percent
surge in passengers to 88 million in 2022 compared to the previous 12 months,
according to the General Authority of Statistics.
The Jeddah airport emerged as the busiest airport
in Saudi Arabia in 2022, as it handled 32 million passengers.
King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh came
in second, with about 27 million passengers, followed by King Fahd International
Airport in Dammam, with about 10 million.
The forum also went on to discuss the region’s
role in enhancing the aviation sector as well as the importance of
sustainability.
In a keynote speech, Omar bin Ghaleb, deputy
director-general of the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, said that the
country has made “significant investments in modernizing infrastructure,
upgrading regulatory framework, and enhancing operational capabilities.”
The Global Airport Leaders Forum is co-located
with the 22nd edition of the Airport Show, a three-day event and one of the
largest aviation shows in the world that was inaugurated Tuesday at the Dubai
World Trade Centre.