Doha, Qatar: Qatar has continued to witness a strong momentum in aircraft movements and air passengers as the preliminary Air Transport Statistics for May 2023 showed a vital surge in air passengers by 22.2 percent and aircraft movement recorded an increase of 16.6 percent compared to the same month last year.
According to a recent tweet by Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCCA), 3.4 million air passengers were registered in the country by May 2023, compared to 2.8 million in the previous year.
In the meantime, the air cargo and mail signalled a slight increase of 0.7 percent compared to May 2022 while the country registered 193,008 tonnes as compared to 191,675 tonnes in May 2022, the tweet stated.
During April 2023, Qatar saw an increase of 31 percent in its air passengers as compared to its previous month. In the same month aircraft movement posted a 14.3 percent y-o-y increase with 18,762 flights, compared to 16,411 in the same time last year.
The first quarter of 2023 witnessed a resilient flight movement with added benefits such as the extension of hayya cards and leisure activities.
February and March recorded the highest activity in terms of the number of passengers onboard since Hamad International Airport and Doha International Airport commenced their operations.
The number of passengers in March increased by 25 percent compared to the same period in 2022 and eventually saw a significant rise in its flight movement with 12.9 percent.
However, air freight and mail activities reduced by 5.2 percent compared to the last year March.
In January, Qatar posted a massive record rise in air passengers by 64.4 percent due to the FIFA World Cup 2022, while the air transport statistics indicated that there was an increase of 19.3 percent y-o-y for aircraft movement with 19,377 flights, compared to 16,239 within the same period in 2022.
The top officials of Qatar Tourism and Qatar Airways recently noted that the country is progressing towards a leisure-driven hub in the region and is expected to see more than 6 million visitors per year by 2030.
They remarked that tourism alone will contribute to Qatar’s GDP growth by 7 to 12 percent in the next seven years.
