Over 31.86 million Passenger Travel Through UAE Airports in Q1-2023

The number of passengers through the country’s airports increased by 56.3% during the first quarter of this year compared with the corresponding period last year.

This confirms the success of the sector in restoring the levels of passenger traffic registered before the pandemic. Covid-19, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, said on Tuesday.

He said that over 31.86 million passengers passed through the UAE’s airports between January and March this year compared with around 20.38 million during the same period in 2022, an increase equivalent to More than 11.48 million passengers.

He said that the civil aviation sector in the country succeeded in restoring the levels of passenger traffic recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating that the numbers recorded during the first quarter confirm the volume of global confidence in the civil aviation sector in the country and its ability to recover and achieve rising levels of growth.

He expects the continued growth of air traffic at the country’s airports during the current year, due to the achievements made by the UAE aviation sector, thus making the UAE securing first place among the list of the 20 largest air transport markets in the world in terms of growth in scheduled seat capacity over flights at its international airports.

He said that the achievements of the UAE’s civil aviation sector included the classification of the three national economic carriers “Air Arabia, Fly Dubai and Wizz Air” among the list of the 20 safest low-cost carriers in 2023, making the Emirates unique, with the presence of 5 national companies from one country in the list of the best commercial and low-cost carriers.

Record Destinations

The number of destinations that national air carriers touched stood at 536 destinations and the UAE represented the preferred global destination for tourism and business. Supported by the recovery in travel demand, the UAE ‘s airports and national carriers achieved tremendous growth.

He explained that the number of civil aircraft registered for professional use (government and private) in the country is 894 as an today, while the number of amateur drones registered with the General Authority of Civil Aviation was 21,321 by the end of the first quarter of this year.

He also confirmed that the UAE has established a comprehensive legislative and control system to keep pace with the unmanned aircraft sector in the country, and to ensure that these aircraft conform to technical specifications.

The volume of investments in the civil aviation sector in the country was more than $272 billion to raise the capacity of the airports to more than 300 million passengers annually. “The aviation sector’s contribution to the UAE GDP was 14% while it did not exceed 2%-3% in major countries,” he averred.