Sharjah Airport records 24.4% rise in passenger traffic in first half of 2023

Planned extension will increase the hub's annual passenger capacity to 20 million by 2026, from eight million currently

Sharjah Airport handled more than 7 million passengers in the first half of 2023, up by nearly a quarter from the same period last year. Photo: Sharjah Airport Authority

Sharjah Airport handled more than seven million passengers in the first half of 2023, up 24.4 per cent from the same period last year, amid growth in airline customer numbers and a surge in travel demand.

Aircraft movements at the airport also increased, with the number of flights exceeding 46,900, a rise of 14 per cent over the same period in 2022, the Sharjah Airport Authority said.

The numbers are in line with a strategy to “strengthen Sharjah Airport's leading position and achieve sustainable growth in the aviation and cargo sectors … to reinforce Sharjah's position on the world travel map”, the authority's chairman, Ali Al Midfa, said.

A planned expansion of the airport's terminal will increase its annual passenger capacity from eight million to 20 million as part of a push to boost its aviation and air cargo services.

Work on the terminal expansion will start this year and is expected to be completed in 2026, as part of efforts to meet rising travel demand, Mr Al Midfa said in March.

Sharjah Airport is the home of Air Arabia, which posted a record full-year profit for 2022 as the number of passengers it carried surpassed pre-coronavirus levels on strong demand.

Net profit for the year stood at Dh1.2 billion ($327 million), up 70 per cent from Dh720 million in 2021.

To meet the boom in travel demand and improve the hub's operational capacity, the Sharjah Airport Authority announced the addition of six new passenger destinations and three air cargo routes.

“We are optimistic that the addition of more destinations will provide us with more travel and logistics opportunities,” Mr Al Midfa said.

The new passenger destinations are Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Ufa and Samara in Russia, Lar in Iran, Indore in India and Thailand's capital, Bangkok.

The new air cargo destinations are Houston, Rwandan capital Kigali and Nashik in India.

“This move is in line with the authority’s aim of boosting commercial ties and contributing to the economic expansion of Sharjah and the UAE, as well as improving connection with the world through sustainable growth, enhancing the infrastructure and service offerings,” it said.

The UAE is a major travel, tourism and business centre in the Middle East.

The tourism sector contribution to the GDP of the Emirates was 10 per cent, or Dh166.7 billion, in 2022, Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq said last month.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, this will further rise to Dh180.6 billion by the end of 2023, reflecting a growth of 8.3 per cent from the previous year.

The tourism sector created more than 750,000 job opportunities in the country last year, accounting for 12 per cent of the total labour market, Mr bin Touq said.

The transport and storage sector also played a dominant role in the growth of the country's GDP at constant prices in 2022, accounting for the largest share, with a substantial increase of 20.2 per cent from the previous year, he said.

This is due to a surge in the number of international travellers, improved air traffic and higher national airline revenue, Mr bin Touq said.

During the first quarter of 2023, hotels in the UAE generated more than Dh12.2 billion in revenue, up 7 per cent over the same period in 2022, he said.

They welcomed more than 7.2 million hotel guests during the period, an increase of 18 per cent compared with the same period in 2022, and a growth of 3 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

Total hotel nights stood at 26 million in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 6 per cent from the same period in 2022 and 15 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2019.

Moreover, the hotel occupancy rate was about 80 per cent, among the highest when compared with the world's main tourist markets, Mr bin Touq said.

The UAE Tourism Strategy 2031 is a road map to boost the sector's contribution to the country's GDP to Dh450 billion, while attracting new investment worth Dh100 billion to the industry.

Additionally, the strategy aims to welcome 40 million guests by 2031.