Rise of the Aerotropolis

Every major airport in the GCC region had record-breaking passenger traffic last year.

At the forefront is Dubai International Airport which has officially become the world’s busiest airport in terms of international travel, surpassing longtime leader London’s Heathrow.

Last year, Dubai handled more than 70 million, while Heathrow reported around 68.1 million international passengers.

At Doha’s Hamad International Airport (HIA), which sees some 85,000 passengers daily, traffic reached 26.3 million passengers or a 13 percent growth in 2014, compared to the 23.2 million recorded the previous year.

HIA saw a total of 26,356,392 travellers through its passenger terminal complex last year. Of these, 10.6 million passengers travelled through Doha International Airport, Doha’s former commercial airport, while 15.7 million passengers used HIA, the official report stated.

Abu Dhabi Airport reported that during 2014, they welcomed around 20 million passengers, representing an annual growth of 20 percent, which is the highest ever growth in the airport’s history.

According to the report, the gateway handled 154,821 traffic movements, up 14.5 percent compared to the previous year, while cargo throughput rose 12.8 percent year-on-year, reaching 797,069 million tonnes.

Oman airports are also doing well - Salalah airport had 13 percent passenger rise, and Muscat Airport saw an almost five per cent rise, while the total number of passengers using Kuwait International Airport in 2014 was 10.2 million with a record increase of 9.6 percent, compared to 2013 and previous years.

Point-to-point traffic

According to Airports Council International (ACI), Middle East airports continued with strong passenger growth at 9.4 percent in 2014, and industry predictions say the aviation market in the region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.12 percent over the period 2014-2019.

Airbus predicts at a 7.1 percent annual average growth rate, the Middle East, which attracts around 52 million tourists a year, is going to be the fastest-growing air transport region, while the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) forecasts the number of passengers flying through Arab airports will grow to 571 million by 2026.

"The main drivers for GCC airport growth are the simplicity passengers have for one-stop connections between virtually any two city pairs in the world. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways all use the most modern, fuel efficient jets like the 777 and 787, as well as high capacity A380s between congested and busy routes to move people faster and in larger numbers than any of their international rivals can do."

"This is why the investment and growth of infrastructure at Dubai International Airport, Al Maktoum International Airport and Dubai World Central, Hamad International Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport has been increasing continuously to meet the ever-rising passenger numbers that travel to and through these hubs."

"Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are three of the world's fastest growing airlines and so it's only natural the GCC airports they operate out of will also grow in tandem,” explains Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research.

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