Saudi air passengers up 17% in first half of 2024

SPA

• 2030 target of 330m passengers
• Travellers up 26% in 2023
• Air freight shows 41% increase

Saudi Arabia had a 17 percent increase in the total number of air passengers in the first half of the year, rising to 62 million. 

This was based on a 12 percent rise in total flights to 446,000, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said. 

Air freight was also up, showing an increase of 41 percent, GACA said. 

---

---

The country’s total number of air passengers rose 26 percent to 112 million in 2023, including a 46 percent rise in the total number of international travellers to 61 million, but it faces stiff competition from Dubai, the region’s busiest airport. 

Saudi Arabia’s National Strategy for the Civil Aviation Sector “aims to make the aviation sector in the kingdom the first in the Middle East by reaching 330 million passengers” by 2030, GACA said. 

The travel sector is experiencing a huge expansion to help push tourism to 10 percent of GDP by 2030. Domestic airports are being privatised and more licences given to low-cost operators. 

• Riyadh Air and Delta strike pact to expand network
• Is Saudi Arabia’s aviation strategy cleared for landing?
• Saudia announces ‘largest deal in Saudi aviation history’

A new airport is under construction in Riyadh that will be home to a second national carrier, Riyadh Air, from 2030. 

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s national carrier Saudia reported a 24 percent increase in international passengers to 9.1 million in the first half of 2024 and a 13 percent rise in the number of flights – driven largely by pilgrim traffic. 

Over 1.8 million people took part in the Hajj pilgrimage in June, about 88 percent of them coming from abroad and mostly by air.