Passenger traffic at Kuwait and Muscat international airports posted double-digit growths in 2017, while passenger traffic at Qatar’s Hamad International airport fell by a third in the past year.

According to local news sources, Muscat International processed over 14 million passengers in 2017, marking a 17 per cent increase compared to the figure reported the previous year.

The Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO) also reported that passenger traffic in Kuwait International rose from 11.7 million in 2016 to 13.7 million in 2017.

The significant growth at both airports reflect for the most part the increased intra-GCC traffic as a result of the closure of air spaces in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to Qatar.

Many passengers heading to Qatar from the three countries and vice versa have broken their journeys in Oman or Kuwait since June last year as a result of the latest diplomatic and trade dispute between the GCC states, where Oman and Kuwait maintained a neutral stance.

MEED understands that Qatar’s Hamad International reported a lump sum figure of having processed 120 million passengers since 2014.

Previous data maintained by MEED indicates the airport processed 28 million passengers in 2014, 31 million in 2015 and 37.3 million in 2016. This implies that the number of passengers handled by the airport fell by 36 per cent to 23.7 million in 2017, based on the lump sum figure published by Hamad International.

Despite the fall in passenger number at the airport, it is understood that the Hamad International Airport (HIA) Steering Committee is going ahead with the planned expansion of the airport.

Dubai Airports and Abu Dhabi Airports as well as the General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) in Saudi Arabia have yet to release data for the full year 2017, while Bahrain Airport Company has only so far released cargo traffic data, reporting a 10 per cent increase in tonnage in 2017.