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Passenger traffic at the nation’s airports rose 26% y-o-y to 112 mn passengers in 2023, according to data released yesterday by government statistics agency Gastat (pdf). International passengers arriving at the Kingdom’s airports rose 46% y-o-y last year to 61 mn passengers, while domestic flight passengers domestic rose 9% y-o-y to 51 mn.
The number of international flights arriving at and departing from airports in the Kingdom grew 36% y-o-y to 394k last year, while the number of domestic flights inched up 2% y-o-y to 421k, according to the report. Local airports saw 62k private international flights and 14k domestic flights during the year.
Growing capacity to handle more: Total capacity across all of Saudi’s airports reached 116 mn passengers annually in 2023. Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport led the list with a capacity of 45 mn passengers annually, followed by Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport (37 mn) and Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport (13 mn).
The gong for the largest number of global routes went to King Abdulaziz Airport, which had 365, up 20% y-o-y. Madinah’s Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Airport came in second with 258, up 21% y-o-y, followed by King Khalid International Airport (176) and King Fahd International Airport (92).
REMEMBER- The government aims to open up its aviation sector to turn it into a USD 2 bnindustry, and the country is extending air connectivity to a total of 250 countries by 2030. This also plays into the government’s tourism target, which was more than doubled aiming to lure 150 mn tourist trips by 2030, after hitting an earlier target of 100 mn last year ahead of plan.
Keep an eye out for a flurry of aviation news next week: Riyadh is hosting two major, overlapping aviation events: The Future Aviation Forum (FAF) — where investment projects worth USD 100 bn will be up for grabs — and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Facilitation 2024 Global Summit. The FAF is set to run from Monday, 20 May, through to Wednesday, 22 May, while the two-day ICAO summit is scheduled for kickoff on Tuesday, 21 May.
