Middle East passenger volume rises 8% in June: report

Passenger traffic in the Middle East the recorded growth of 8.1 percent in June, according to ACI Asia-Pacific report.

The robust performance of several Middle Eastern airports were driven by Ramadan timings, it said. Airports with the highest volume increase from last year were Dubai 4.2 percent and Sharjah 17.5 percent.

Overall, year-to-date passenger traffic the Middle East grew 2.5 percent. Major markets such as China, India and the United Arab Emirates all experienced slowdown in the first quarter and showed signs of improvement in the second quarter.

Passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific grew by 2.1 percent in June. However, the macro-economic environment remains challenging particularly for Asia-Pacific with rising tensions between Japan and South Korea and the escalating trade disputes between China and the United States, the report noted.

Air freight markets continued to deteriorate with Asia-Pacific and the Middle East declined at 6.5 percent and 7.1 percent respectively. Air freight slowed in the first half of 2019, with Asia-Pacific at 5.9 percent and the Middle East at 2.7 percent.

“The escalating trade tensions between China and the United States continued to put pressure on the exports and manufacturing activities in the region,” ACI Asia-Pacific added.