Business | Aviation
Mideast air passenger growth down to 7.4%
Air passenger growth in the Middle East, which last year recorded a double-digit jump in traffic, sharply declined to 7.4 per cent in January, signalling that carriers in the region could face a slowdown this year.
- By Shakir HusainStaff Reporter
- Published: 00:05 February 27, 2008
Dubai: Air passenger growth in the Middle East, which last year recorded a double-digit jump in traffic, sharply declined to 7.4 per cent in January, signalling that carriers in the region could face a slowdown this year.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Geneva-based group representing 240 airlines, yesterday attributed the January fall to "slower growth in capacity."
Carriers in the Middle East had recorded an 18.1 per cent increase in passenger traffic in 2007, continuing a four-year trend of double-digit growth.
The Middle East's share of international passenger traffic market is eight per cent. Global passenger traffic growth slowed down across key regions last month.
"January traffic results show that we could be at a turning point. A month's data is not enough to define a trend, however, the sharp shift in demand growth patterns makes it clear that the US credit crunch is negatively impacting air travel," IATA director-general Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement and warned that "there is likely to be turbulence ahead."
International passenger demand grew by 4.3 per cent in January compared with 6.7 per cent growth recorded in December and 7.4 per cent recorded for the entire 2007.
IATA said the Middle Eastern growth decline "seems due to slower growth in capacity rather than any change in the strong oil-driven upward trend in growth."
At 0.3 per cent, European carriers saw the largest fall from 5.5 per cent in December, representing the weakest growth of all regions.
North American carriers recorded five per cent growth in international passenger traffic, down from six per cent recorded in December.
Asia Pacific carriers saw a marginal drop in demand growth from 6.2 per cent in December to 5.7 per cent in January.
Aviation: Abu Dhabi summit
Abu Dhabi will play host to the first Middle East Aviation Outlook Summit, to be held in the region when it starts on Wednesday.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) outlook summit will bring together aviation experts from the Middle East and Asia to discuss the huge growth the aviation sector is experiencing.
The conference will discuss the latest trends in aviation and hear from experts on how the region might respond to record growth. The region grew the fastest in the world last year, 18.6 per cent and that trend is expected to continue into 2008 and beyond.
- WAM
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