Doha, Qatar: The Cairo to Doha flight route reached 107,522 seats in the last week of July 2023, putting it in the top 10 positions in the Busiest International Routes by Region, according to data from Official Airline Guide (OAG).
Data from OAG, which provides travel statistics, show that global airline capacity picked up pace in the last week of July, with carriers adding 0.5m seats compared to the previous week, taking the global total to 116.6m. However, the number is lower than expected due to a projected increase to 116.75m. Global seats are 13.9% ahead of the same week last year and just 2% behind the same week in 2019, OAG noted.
Meanwhile, the Cairo-Doha route was ranked sixth in the African region last month and fell to ninth in the latest rankings. Cairo to Jeddah maintained its position as the busiest route in the region with 435,508 seats; Cairo to Riyadh, Cairo to Madinah, Cairo to Kuwait and Cairo to Dubai completed the top five.
International seats are 25.2% ahead of where they were this week last year and just 7.7% behind the same week in 2019. A peak global capacity of 46.8m seats is still expected, OAG also disclosed.
In the Middle East, strong international seat growth shows an additional 94,000 seats added in the last week of July. Compared to the same week in 2019, global capacity for the Middle East region is now 5.5% ahead.
As travel continues to bounce back, Qatar is leveraging a successful FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to boost tourism and increase flight frequency through the country’s airport Hamad International Airport, home to the flagship airline, Qatar Airways.
After hosting the World Cup, Qatar is witnessing a massive surge in tourism, with growth attributed to new festivals, attractions, and world-class events.
Many new arrivals hail from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Middle East. The latest reports state that visitors from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries contributed significantly to the strong growth in tourist arrivals to Qatar in June 2023 -- making up 42% of the total arrivals, according to the official data by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
The country received 118,597 visitors from the GCC in June 2023. Qatar plans to welcome around six million tourists annually by 2030.
