Airports in Kuwait, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia experienced a combined 11 per cent growth in passenger numbers in 2015.

Muscat International and Abu Dhabi International recorded the highest year-on-year growth, posting passenger numbers that were 17.6 per cent and 17.2 per cent up on 2014 figures respectively.

Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) said more than 10 million passengers passed through Muscat International in 2015, while passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International reached 23.28 million.

Qatar’s Hamad International airport (HIA) served more than 30 million passengers, up 14.1 per cent on 2014. A similar number of passengers passed through Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International in 2015, 6.6 per cent higher than for 2014.

Kuwait International airport (KIA) served just over 10.2 million passengers in 2015. While the exact number of passengers who used KIA in 2014 is not available, it is estimated to have been about 10 million.

Dubai International airport (DIA) remains the largest airport in the region in terms of passenger numbers, handling 78.01 million passengers.This represented a 10.7 per cent increase in passengers in 2015 compared with the previous year. DIA remains the world’s top hub for international passengers.

Some 100 carriers, including Emirates airline and Flydubai, connect DIA to more than 240 destinations globally. The airport also recorded a 14.1 per cent rise in aircraft movements, which reached 403,517 in 2015.

Abu Dhabi airport attributed its increased passenger traffic primarily to the strong performance of Etihad Airways, which carried 17.4 million passengers to more than 115 destinations in 2015.

In Qatar, the rise was due to the number of passengers who flew through HIA, which opened in late April 2014, as well as the old airport.

All GCC states are either expanding their existing airports and building new terminals, or are in the process of procuring new airport schemes to accommodate future demand.

It is understood the GCC and other Middle East states need between 2,000 and 3,000 new aircraft over the next 20 years, accounting for an estimated 7.5 per cent of the global demand during this period.