Arab News, Wednesday, May 10, 2023 | Shawwal 20, 1444
UAE In-Focus — Dubai Airports expects record 83m passengers in 2023
Emirates: Dubai Airports, which
owns and manages the operation of both Dubai International and Dubai World
Central airports, has revised its 2023 forecast upward to 83.6 million
passengers, bringing it within “striking distance” of its 2019 annual traffic,
said its CEO.
“With important developments in the international
travel sector such as the further easing of travel protocols in China and the
upcoming local annual seasonal peaks and festive holidays, our outlook for the
second quarter and the remainder of the year remains bullish,” Paul Griffiths
said in a statement.
Dubai’s main airport DXB registered a 55.8 percent
increase in passenger traffic in the first quarter of this year compared to same
period of last year, reaching 95.6 percent of 2019 levels.
The operator said it welcomed around 21.3 million
passengers in the first three months of 2023.
March was the busiest month in the first quarter,
with 7.3 million passengers, the highest monthly traffic since January 2020,
when the airport recorded 7.8 million passengers.
Moreover, the airport registered 66 million
passengers in 2022.
According to the statement, India remained its top
destination country, with passenger traffic reaching 3 million, followed by
Saudi Arabia at 1.6 million, the UK at 1.4 million and Pakistan at 1 million.
The airport handled 400,015 tons of cargo during
the first quarter of 2023, a contraction of 23 percent compared to the first
quarter of 2022, during which the hub handled 519,555 tons of air freight.
Air Arabia’s Q1 net profit rises 17% to $93m
Sharjah-based low-cost airline Air Arabia has
reported a first-quarter profit of 342 million dirhams ($93 million), up 17
percent over the same quarter last year.
The Dubai-listed airline reported revenue of 1.429
billion dirhams in the first quarter of 2023, up from 1.128 billion dirhams in
the year-ago period.
In a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, the
carrier said it flew 3.9 million passengers during the first quarter of this
year, up 59 percent over the same period last year.
Air Arabia Chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad
Al-Thani said: “We remain steadfast in our growth plans; we will continue to
build on our strengths and explore new opportunities that will enable us to
further expand the reach of our value-driven product, enabling more customers
and communities to benefit from our affordable and reliable air travel
offering.”
UAE’s digital economy to grow as top bodies ink
deal
The Arab Federation for Digital Economy and the
Union of Arab Chambers signed a cooperation agreement at the Entrepreneurs
Investment Summit in Abu Dhabi.
The agreement was signed by Khaled Hanafi,
secretary-general of the Union of Arab Chambers and Ali Mohamed Al-Khoury,
adviser to the Council of Arab Economic Unity and chairman of the Arab Union for
Digital Economy.
The agreement stressed the importance of
collaboration to achieve a shared Arab vision for the digital economy.
The two parties are committed to expanding the
application of the Arab Free Trade Agreement and increasing the capabilities of
e-commerce and modern technology in the Arab region.
The e-commerce market in the Middle East and North
Africa is classified as the fastest-growing in the world, with a value of $49
billion by the end of 2022.
Moreover, 60 percent of consumers in the Arab
region pay through digital channels when shopping online, a 20 percent increase
from 2021, revealed an industry report.
In 2021, companies in the MENA region recorded
combined profits of $201.7 billion, an increase of 121 percent from $91 billion
in 2020, the report stated.