Air passenger traffic in Arab world up 14.5pc in August

In August, passenger traffic inside the Arab world increased by 8.7 per cent compared to August the previous year. Traffic grew between all the world regions, apart from traffic within the Arab Peninsula, which declined by 1.2 per cent.

Between the Near East and North Africa, passenger traffic grew 32.3 per cent, followed closely by a 31.3 per cent surge in traffic within the Near East. Passenger traffic within North Africa grew 21.7 per cent, while between the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa it jumped 12.9 per cent. Between the Arabian Peninsula and Near East passenger traffic rose by 9.6 per cent.

Passenger traffic between the Arab world and other world regions increased by 17.8 per cent in August compared to August 2006. The biggest jump occurred between the Arab world and Latin America, and between Sub-Saharan Africa, where passenger traffic grew by 35.8 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. Passenger traffic between the Arab world and the Far East and Australia leapt 21.5 per cent, with mid-Asia by 19.7 per cent, with Europe by 14.6 per cent and with North America by 13.7 per cent.

Arab airlines also increased the number of seats offered from and to the Arab world by 9 per cent while other airlines decreased their seat capacity to this region by 0.5 per cent. Some 32.7 per cent of the total available seats to and from the Arab world were to European markets, 28 per cent to Asia, and 9.7 per cent to North America and other markets.

AACO emphasised the number of new routes being launched over the winter. These include: Oman Air launching daily direct services to London Gatwick, Royal Jordanian opening a new gateway to China, Etihad Airways increasing its services to Manila and expanding its Indian network, Qatar Airways launching services to Nagpur and Johor and Jazeera Airways expanding to India. The growth of new routes also includes foreign airlines being granted traffic rights to operate in the Gulf region, AACO noted. For example, Jet Airways is preparing to launch its services here in January 2008, the first private Indian carrier to secure traffic rights to this part of the world.

In addition, Arab airlines such as Emirates, Air Arabia, Etihad, Oman Air and Alexandria Airlines, enhanced their operations to Saudi Arabia to cater for the increased demand during the Holy Month of Ramadan. Jazeera Airways also announced the start of services to Saudi Arabia in October.

According to AACO, in August jet fuel prices fell 3 per cent compared with July from an average of $21.4 cents to $20.7 cents per gallon.