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29 March 2024

UAE is world's second fastest growing air market

Published
By Waheed Abbas

The UAE is the world’s second fastest growing market in terms of international and domestic passengers, according to figures published by International Air Transport Association (Iata).

Iata said airlines in the UAE carried 45.3 million passengers in 2013, an increase of 11.7 per cent over the previous year.

China led the world with a marginally better 11.8 per cent growth in 2013, carrying 404.2 million passengers.

Tony Tyler, Iata’s Director General and CEO, said: “The industry carried more than 3 billion passengers and nearly 48 million tonnes of cargo on nearly 100,000 flights per day, while the real price of air travel fell by 7.4 per cent. Aviation’s annual contribution exceeds even these impressive figures. Its global economic impact is estimated at $2.4 trillion and it supports 3.4 per cent of global GDP. By value, over a third of goods traded internationally are delivered by air and some 58.1 million jobs are supported by aviation.”

Airlines carried 3.129 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 5.1 per cent over 2012 with Asia-Pacific airlines carrying the largest number of passengers of any region.

Europe carried 825.9 million passengers, up 3.4 per cent over 2012; North America carried 818.9 million, up 0.7 per cent; Latin America and the Caribbean carried 240.5 million, up 7.6 per cent; Middle East flew 157.9 million people, an increase of 8.8 per cent; and Africa flew 73.8 million, an increase of 5.6 per cent.

Airlines added over 1,100 direct airport-pair services and 600,000 frequencies in 2013, for a new total of 50,000 direct airport-pair services and 31.5 million frequencies.

The price of air travel in real terms fell by 7.4 per cent compared to 2012, Iata added.