BEIRUT: Arab airlines will see growth in 2011 falling to 7 percent from last year’s 17 percent, due in part to political turmoil across the Middle East, speakers at the Arab Air Carriers Organization conference said.
However, participants at the AACO said prospects remain bright despite 2011’s decreasing growth rate.
“Not all Arab airlines will see such growth [in 2011]. Some airlines will in fact recede under [the] pressure of political and economic turmoil in some of the biggest economies in the region,” said AACO secretary-general Abdul Wahab Teffaha, who spoke at the organization’s conference held in Abu Dhabi last week, according to the National News Agency.
The number of passengers flying to and from the region would also see slower growth in 2011.
Teffaha said governments should pursue efforts to uphold high growth rates in the sector. He said infrastructure projects, including new airports, had been vital to growth achieved by the region’s airlines during the last decade.
Tony Tyler, CEO of the International Air Transport Association, said the aviation sector is imperative to the global economy, which alone supports 33 million jobs.
“Robust growth will continue to be a major theme for the Middle East airline industry. In 2015, the UAE will handle 86.6 million international passengers, nearly 30 million more than in 2010.”
While regional carriers accounted for less than 7 percent of international traffic in 2004, today the percentage is over 11 percent, he added.
“The double-digit growth trend of Middle East carriers over the last years has fueled this expansion,” Tyler said.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on December 05, 2011, on page 4.
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