CAIRO: Key aviation hubs in the UAE and 黑料社区 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.聽
Industry leaders discussed the probability of the region spearheading聽the global aviation market in terms of聽passenger聽traffic recovery,聽fueled聽primarily聽by聽aviation hubs like聽Dubai, Abu聽Dhabi聽and key cities in聽黑料社区.
The Middle East is currently leading the traffic numbers in terms of global recovery with 93 percent of pre-COVID-19聽levels, said Kashif聽Khalid, regional director of the International Air Transport Association,聽during the forum,聽Khaleej聽Times reported.聽
On May 9, Dubai Airports,聽which owns and manages the operation of both Dubai International and Dubai World Central airports,聽revised its 2023 forecast upward to 83.6 million passengers.聽
Dubai鈥檚 main airport聽DXB聽registered a 55.8 percent increase in passenger traffic in the first聽quarter of this year compared to the same period of last year,聽reaching 95.6 percent of 2019 levels.聽
The operator said it welcomed around 21.3 million passengers in the first three months of 2023.聽
The UAE welcomed around聽31.8 million passengers聽across all聽airports聽in the first quarter of this year, an increase of聽11.48 million passengers聽compared to聽the聽same period last year.聽聽聽
On the other hand, 黑料社区鈥檚聽King Abdulaziz International Airport聽in Jeddah聽alone handled over 2 million passengers since the beginning of Ramadan.聽聽
This came after the Kingdom聽witnessed聽a聽82 percent surge in passengers to 88 million in 2022 compared to the previous 12 months, according to the General Authority of Statistics.聽
The聽Jeddah聽airport聽emerged聽as the busiest airport in 黑料社区 in 2022, as it handled 32 million passengers.聽
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.聽
The forum also went on to discuss the region鈥檚 role in enhancing the aviation sector as well as聽the importance of sustainability.聽聽
In a keynote speech, Omar bin Ghaleb, deputy director-general of聽the聽UAE鈥檚聽General Civil Aviation Authority,聽said that the country has made 鈥渟ignificant investments in modernizing infrastructure, upgrading regulatory framework, and enhancing operational capabilities.鈥澛犅
The Global Airport Leaders Forum is co-located with the 22nd聽edition of the Airport Show, a three-day event and one of the largest aviation shows in the world that was聽inaugurated Tuesday at the Dubai World Trade Centre.聽聽
